The Virus
by UBE Chief
Summary: Something has gone terribly wrong. The world of Pokemon will be forever changed. Only a few survivors are left of the destruction. This is their tale of survival…or is it?
1. Fallout

The Virus

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo, Game Freak and its affiliates do.

Description: Something has gone terribly wrong. The world of Pokemon will be forever changed. Only a few survivors are left of the destruction. This is their tale of survival…or is it?

Rating: M

Chapter One: Fallout

* * *

It all happened a week ago. Silph Co. and an unknown partner claimed that they had discovered a medical breakthrough for humans. Apparently it was supposed to make us more immune to the effects of Pokemon moves, but it had gone catastrophically wrong. The first test subject – me – received no ill effects, and they were delighted at the results. Soon after, they were administering it to everyone. But three days after the first batch went out; several people began showing some odd symptoms. Disfigured limbs, rotting flesh, and loss of intelligence were some of the symptoms. Worse cases began eating flesh – human or otherwise, and developing tentacles where their arms should be. Everyone was terrified. A state of emergency was declared and panic quickly spread and everything fell apart from there. Now, a week after the discovery, there were no survivors. Oh sure, there were people, but you could hardly call them as such anymore. Even Pokemon had run away from all human populaces and had gone into hiding. Any uninfected human was a potential meal or just another ticking time bomb of the virus. If there were survivors, I haven't met anyone who was either uninfected or immune. I was one of the lucky ones – if there was anyone left. All I had left was my Gardevoir. But even she wanted to escape this terror and hide from it all. Luckily for me, I had convinced her that if we were to survive in this new world, we would have to exterminate the virus.

* * *

*Flashback*

"We have to do this."

'I can't. I don't want to be near any of this!'

"Afraid of becoming infected?"

'That's one reason.'

"No Pokemon can be infected by that thing. After all, it was synthesized from a combination of Pokemon and human DNA."

'That doesn't make me feel better.'

"How's this then. If I die, then you can run off to where ever you desire. I'll even keep you out of your Pokeball."

'…Okay. But I still don't like this.'

"I'll protect you. I promise. But if we're going to eliminate the virus, then you're going with me all the way, deal?"

'Deal.'

*End Flashback*

* * *

So far, everything had gone according to plan – despite the fact that I had no plan at all. I had taken whatever weapons and ammunition I could scrounge from every armoury and police station we came across. I had even been bold enough to break into some houses for food and supplies whenever we ran low. We haven't run across any infected humans yet, but that was mainly because they were all concentrated in the cities, and we were out in the smaller towns and villages. But even so, I couldn't take any chances as I hefted the automatic shotgun I had acquired a few towns back. Somehow, nobody ever thought of killing the infected. I guess that they wanted to see if they could be cured. So that left a large stash of weapons at local towns with nobody protecting them – or any uninfected townspeople.

'Daemon?' Gardevoir asked, breaking my thoughts.

"Hmm?"

'Where are we going next?'

"I suppose we don't have any choice. We have to go to the nearest city and find any survivors – if there are any."

'But,' she started, grabbing my arm, 'You said earlier that we wouldn't have to unless there was no other way!'

I chuckled. "I just said there was no other way. We have to eliminate the virus, and that means going into a city to find out what the hell happened."

Honestly, the fear radiating from her was almost visible. I guess that's what you sense after a few years alone with a Psychic-type. Despite that I was a trainer, and I did have several other Pokemon available at my disposal, I always preferred having the company of my Gardevoir. She always comforted me and I comforted her in times of need. Despite our many differences, you could almost say we were siblings – others would say we're a couple – but then again, that was still forbidden in the Four Regions that made up our world – or what was left of it.

A rustle shook us from our thoughts. I whipped around; wielding the shotgun like it was no lighter than a pistol and found out that the rustle was no more benign than a loose piece of newspaper. We chuckled nervously, our own minds frayed from almost two days without sleep. We were getting restless – all from wondering whether we would be attacked out of nowhere. I was honestly hoping that we would get attacked so that we could get it out of the way and continue with our mission.

'How far away is the next city?' Gardevoir asked me.

"Far enough that we need transportation, or else we'll be out here for a long time," I replied.

She shivered and moved closer to me. Although she could protect herself quite well, it seemed as though all thoughts of self-defense were thrown out the window. I doubted that I could defend us both if a hoard of infected came at us, but that remains to be seen. We began to search for vehicles that still had their keys in the ignition. Cars and trucks littered the roads, but most of them had been left without their keys – proving that the uninfected still thought of securing their vehicles – before they became one of them.

* * *

Just before nightfall, our luck turned. A small coupe on its side still had the keys in the ignition, but it would require all my strength to just move it a few inches back on its tires.

"Gardevoir, can you flip this car back on its wheels?"

'Yes, I'm sure I can.'

Her eyes glowed a beautiful purple-blue colour and the car slowly rotated back on all four tires with a slight squeak from the rubber. Wait, did I just say her eyes were beautiful? I shook the thought from my head and opened the driver's side door. More luck. It seemed as though the car had at least a half-tank of fuel – just enough to get us within city limits.

"Get in. This is our ticket to town," I said.

Reluctantly, she got in the passenger seat, unsure of what might happen. As a trainer, I never took vehicular transport unless absolutely necessary. And even then, I usually kept my Pokemon in their Pokeballs unless I was challenged to a battle. I started the car up, and she almost leapt out of the vehicle, the poor girl. After coercing her back in, we sped off along the rural highway. Any signs of life were only the Pokemon that wanted to get away from the populace. I noticed a few trainer's Pokemon, only identifiable by the fact that they were foreign and fully evolved. They all stared, watching the only vehicle in operation speed past, its occupants heading toward the very place they ran away from.

* * *

An hour passed by, seemingly gone in an instant. Time seemed to fly now that there was nothing keeping it in check. It was then that the car sputtered, scaring the living hell out of the pair of us. I glanced down at the fuel gauge, and saw that it was empty. I hadn't even noticed that the light had gone on. After sputtering some more, the engine died and we coasted, waiting for the speed to bleed out. It was only after a few seconds of coasting that the coupe came to a sudden halt, making both of us bash our skulls against the dashboard – me completely forgetting to fasten the seatbelts. After regaining our senses, we looked out the windshield. Whatever the car struck, it caused a large dent in both the hood and the glass.

'What'd we hit?' Gardevoir asked, fear in her voice.

"No idea. Stay here, I'll go check it out," I replied, grabbing the shotgun from the back seat and easing out of the useless hunk of metal that was the coupe.

Peering out, I couldn't see anything, as it had already gotten pitch black, and the object we hit knocked out both headlights.

"Damn, can't see a thing," I muttered to myself. As if on cue, a bright blue orb appeared next to me and I blinked, trying to get the sudden brightness out of my eyes.

"Thanks Gardevoir," I called out. "But next time, warn me before doing that, okay?"

Before she could get a response out, a shuffling came from the front of the car. I pulled back the charging handle of the automatic shotgun and snapped it back into place, loading a shell into the barrel.

"Come on out," I said warily, "Nice and easy, so I don't end up shooting an innocent Pokemon."

Instead of either a human voice or a Pokemon call, there was a sudden roar, unlike anything I've heard before and the being stood with incredible speed and lifted the front of the coupe into the air. I could hear Gardevoir screaming her lungs out before the disfigured form sent the car flipping end-for-end before it landed on its roof. Fearing the safety of my only companion, I started for the overturned vehicle, but another roar made me turn back. Now I could get a proper – if not blurry – look at the thing. It was one of the worse cases of whatever took over the human species. Six and-a-half feet tall, horribly disfigured from what I could make out and several tentacles poking out of the body and I knew that if I didn't kill it, it would kill me. As the thing took a single step towards me, I pulled the trigger. Now I had a basic know-how on how to operate weapons of various degrees, but a fully-automatic shotgun, that was new to me. I ended up managing to get about three or four slugs into the beast before the weapon sent me flat on my ass, barrel pointed uselessly in the air. I scrambled to my feet, but there was no movement from anything.

'Is it okay to come out?'

"Good Arceus! You scared the crap out of me Gardevoir. How'd you get out?"

'Same way I used to get away from things when I was young. I teleported,' she replied.

"Well, I think we're close to the city, but we're going to have to walk the rest of the way now that that thing demolished our ride."

'Speaking of which, where is it?'

Looking around, I couldn't see it either.

"I shot it a few times before the recoil sent me on my ass. It must've been either scared away, or the pain made it go away. Either way, we appear to be in the clear…for now."

She clutched my arm in a death grip and huddled close. Under different circumstances, this would have been seen as an overly-affectionate Gardevoir, but obviously this was not the case.

"Don't worry. Like I promised, I wouldn't let anything harm you. The city is within our reach, so let's get there and find some shelter so we can get some sleep."

Nodding her head, she relented somewhat in her grip and we set off towards the now-deserted city. Arceus only knows what's in store for us when we get there, and I'm willing to bet that even He doesn't want a part of what has happened to us down here.

Continued in Chapter Two…

* * *

A/N: Daemon and his partner are seemingly the last survivors apart from the masses of Pokemon wanting to go back to the untouched safety of the wild where they can stay hidden, whereas they must go to the place where all fear to tread. But is there anyone else…?

- UBE Chief

Post-note: I felt as though I should get this out, as it's just collecting dust on my hard drive. R&R, tell me what you think. I'm still working on this - along with a Christmas Special for The PDD trilogy.


	2. Fallarbor

The Virus

Disclaimer: See previous Chapter.

Chapter Two: Fallarbor

* * *

A man was sitting at a desk, looking at the readouts on his computer screen. A frown appeared on his face, darkening with each passing minute. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Enter."

A younger man entered, breathless. "Sir, I have some important findings!"

The older gentleman waited for the younger to catch his breath, then said, "Out with it. What do you have to show?"

"Sir, I have some bad news. The test subjects have mutated."

"I already know this. If that is all..."

"No sir. I mean the _other_ test subjects."

The older man leaned in, his frown replaced with fear. "You don't mean..."

"I'm afraid so, sir."

"Arceus help us."

"Sir, I doubt that even He would want to help us now."

* * *

I awoke, sweat beaded on my forehead. Last nights' unexpected attack left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I looked over at Gardevoir, still sleeping peacefully. I wondered if I should give her a name before the shit hits the fan. Something told me that our time was running out, faster than usual. I got up, walked over to her and shook her shoulder.

'Mmfph...'

"Wake up sleepy head."

She opened her eyes slowly, trying to shake sleep out of her system.

"So, Lily, you think we're the only ones left?"

'Who's Lily?' she asked.

"Your name. You like it?"

As her response, she leaned over and hugged me tightly. 'Thank you!'

Her overwhelming burst of happiness was making me slightly giddy myself, but sadly, I had to break up the moment.

"Sorry to break up the moment, but we have to get moving to the next city."

She relinquished her hold on me and looked sad, but I could tell that she was still happy deep under for me giving her a name.

'Do you know what city is next?' she asked.

"To be honest, I don't. All we can do is forge on and hope we find survivors."

'What makes you so sure that we'll find any survivors?'

I laughed. "Lily, all I'm sure of is that there'll be Pokemon, dead bodies, a shitload of infected, maybe one or two uninfected, and us. Especially us, 'cause we're not going to stop until we find a cure, or eliminate the infected so that everyone can rebuild."

We had taken shelter in an abandoned building, relishing in the fact that there was still some food left in the refrigerator. I was up half the night, jumping at every little sound, while Lily had simply passed out on the couch that was there. I had to start playing Solitaire with a deck of cards that I found laying around. But my own jitteriness and paranoia caused me to give up.

Suddenly, Lily giggled.

"What?" I asked.

In response, she reached out and peeled something off my face. An Ace of Hearts came away, glistening somewhat with what looked like my drool. I must've passed out myself - on the haphazardly placed cards.

"Why didn't you notice that earlier?" I asked, embarrassed.

'Because your face was half hidden in shadow, so I couldn't see it,' she replied with another giggle.

I slapped myself in the head. "Well, we better get going. Chances are that if we found this place, others may have found it too."

'But the fridge was full when we arrived!'

"Doesn't mean that something else found this place."

She shuddered involuntarily. 'You don't mean...' she trailed off.

"Yes. Now we better get packing," I said, grabbing the shotgun, making a mental note to find out the name of it so I wouldn't have to keep calling it just a "shotgun".

* * *

After we had packed as much food as we needed for about a week, we headed out, locking the door from the inside. I had also packed a hunting knife - for various reasons. It was only then that I realised my mistake.

"Oh...shit."

'What's wrong Daemon?'

"I forgot the shotgun."

Immediately I turned around, cursing myself for forgetting such an important item. I guess that staying awake for half the night must've fried my thoughts. Instantly, I remembered where I put it. I had placed it down as I was packing canned fruits from the pantry. I leaned close to the door, listening for any sounds coming from behind it. A few rustles and a tinkle were enough to tell me that something was inside. I took out the hunting knife from its sheath in my boot and held it like I remembered how from my martial arts classes with various human and Pokemon trainers. Stepping back from the door, I brought my right knee up to chest height and aimed my right foot at the door.

'Aim just below the handle, and it will always break,' I thought to myself, remembering breaching techniques from one lesson.

Lashing out with my foot, the door caved in with a loud _crack_, the entire door falling to the floor. I saw an outline of a person, but I couldn't be sure. I leapt at it, pressing the knife to its throat. Suddenly, I felt a spike on my own throat along with a hand (or was it a paw?) on the back of my head. Frozen, I knew that if I attempted to show aggression towards either being, I was dead.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" a voice growled in my ear.

As I looked closely at the being under my blade, I noticed it was human - uninfected. I eased up on the pressure, and it gasped.

'I should ask you the same thing,' another voice projected behind me. The spike withdrew, and I stood up, sheathing the hunting knife and extending a hand to the person I had almost killed. A soft, feminine hand took my own, and I pulled the person up. A girl, no older than sixteen, stood in the dim light of the approaching day.

"Sorry for the warm welcome," I said.

"Well, thanks for not killing me," she replied.

I turned around, and was met with the angry glare of a Lucario.

"You haven't answered my question," he growled.

"I thought she was another infected," I replied, shrugging.

"And what are you then?" the girl asked.

I looked back at her, a sad smile on my face. "The first test subject. I'm immune to the virus, so I hoped to eradicate this epidemic with the help of my Gardevoir, Lily."

At that introduction, Lily floated inside, a frown on her face.

'How did a young person and a Lucario manage to stay away from this virus and the infected for so long?' she asked.

"Well, I hardly need to point out that as a Lucario, he's pretty good at kicking ass," the girl replied.

"But now, the question is how did you two do the exact same?" the Lucario asked.

"We actually ran into one last night," I replied.

"And survived? How?" the Lucario asked, incredulous.

'If you can, levitate the shotgun in here; it's in the pantry,' I projected to Lily. Audibly, I said, "Well, the answer should be floating in here soon enough."

At that, the grey shotgun floated in, and I took it as it stopped in front of me.

"An AA-12," the girl said.

"AA-12?" I asked.

"The Auto Assault, or Atchisson Assault 12. That's the weapon in your hands. How did you manage to get one?"

"Searched around. You'd be surprised at how many weapons you can find in abandoned police departments. But there isn't enough ammo for this thing. I mostly found stun rounds and other non-lethal ammunition in the armouries."

"Then you should load this magazine in it," she said, handing me a box magazine. I looked at the top shell, and saw that it was green.

"What's the difference?"

"Frag-12 rounds. Essentially a miniature grenade in a shotgun shell, made only for the AA-12."

"Kick-ass," I replied, putting the magazine into a pocket. "And I think saying AA-12 is a little much - even saying shotgun is getting tiring. I think I'll call this DI."

"Die? Why name the gun that?"

I laughed. "Not D.I.E., just D.I., for Divine Intervention."

The girl looked stunned. "Isn't that a _longer_ name than AA-12?"

"Yeah, but -" I was cut off as a large crash resounded through the little house.

"I think that came from outside," the Lucario said.

I edged towards the fallen door, picking it up and slowly placing it back into its original position.

'What _are_ you doing?' Lily hissed at me.

"Shh, if something's outside, I don't want them knowing that we're here, so stay quiet, and maybe it'll pass," I whispered back.

Just as I placed the door back into its frame, the Lucario cried out, "LOOK OUT!" just before I was thrown back by a massive being that had just muscled its way straight through the doorframe.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, getting back up. I took a quick look at what had sent me on my back, and my blood ran cold. Without thinking, I raised DI and pulled the trigger one-handed. Bad idea. Another four-round burst impacted the being and the recoil turned me around and back onto the floor. I scrambled to my feet and shouted, "TAKE IT OUT DAMMIT!" while turning back towards the thing. Next thing I knew, I was flying through the air again, this time impacting a wall. Looking up, I saw the tinges of black forming around my vision.

'Dammit,' I thought. 'Time to try something new.'

I shook the disorientation from my system, and dropped the drum magazine, put in the box magazine, and cycled the bolt. It was then a scream shattered my concentration. Snapping my head upwards, I stared in shock as the behemoth held up both Lily and the girl with its tentacles. Shouldering DI, I took out my hunting knife and dashed for it. Without warning, a bright blue orb flew past me and impacted the giant, causing it to stumble. Now was my chance. I went for the girl first, because I knew that Lily could hold back the beast with her Psychic powers until I reached her. Dodging random swipes and tentacles, I sliced off the ones holding the girl, then moved to Lily. As I managed to cut off the tentacles holding her, she glanced up behind me, and her eyes grew wide. I spun around, and all I saw was brown matter swinging at me. My first instinct? Block with the knife, and parry, taking out DI in the process.

"I think we've had enough of you," I said, jamming the barrel into its midsection. "Now _die_." Squeezing the trigger, round after round of Frag-12 entered the beast, until I heard a metallic _click_.

'Oh, shit," was all I got to think before - yet again - I was sent flying. Luckily for me, I landed right beside my discarded drum magazine and spare shell that had ejected when I cycled the bolt earlier. Picking both up, I locked the bolt back, placed the spare shell into the chamber, snapped the bolt back, and hooked up the drum magazine once again. Levelling the weapon to my shoulder, I cried out, "EVERYONE AWAY FROM THAT THING!" at the sound of my voice, the beast looked at me, and I could clearly see the silvery metal of the Frag-12 rounds. I smirked, the squeezed the trigger once. A single round escaped the barrel, and impacted dead center of the clustered miniature grenades.

_Ping_

The sound was highly audible right after my shot, and everyone stared at me, wondering if I missed. Even the beast looked into its own abdomen, wondering if I had hit it. But once that curiosity faded, it looked back up and roared, a split-second before the rounds detonated, tearing it into shreds. Massive amounts of decayed skin and organs flew everywhere, covering us with gore.

"Ew, gross!" the girl exclaimed.

Wiping some residue off my own face, I was beaming. But then my adrenaline started to fade, and I felt every sore muscle and bone in my body.

"Oh, damn," I managed to say before blacking out.

* * *

What felt like hours later, I groggily came to. Blinding lights forced me to groan and close my eyes again.

'Daemon? Are you okay?'

"Someone turn down the damn lights, I'm blinded here," was my croaky response. Arceus, I sounded about 30 years my senior with that voice.

At that, the lights dimmed and I could finally see. A blurry outline of a round, pale face greeted me.

"Did I die and go to heaven or something? 'Cause I'm seeing an angel here," I croaked.

The pale face blushed, and moved back slightly. My vision corrected itself and I saw that it was Lily, bending over me, trying to see if I was alright.

'A little mistake, but I can forgive you,' she said with a smile.

I cleared my throat and looked around. We were in what appeared to be a hospital wing, with still-clean sheets of linen folded up into neat bunches.

"Where are we?" I asked Lily.

'Elaine said that we were in Fallarbor, the closest town to where we were.'

"Elaine?"

'Yes, Elaine and her Lucario, Seth. He was the one who carried you all the way here. I think you should thank them.'

"Yeah, I agree," I said, sitting upright. I groaned as my muscles protested against the movement and laid back down. "But after I get some more rest, okay?"

She nodded and said, 'At least I can help you with that." Her eyes glowed blue, and I fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

Lily's POV

As his eyes closed, I felt a tear well up in my eye. Flicking it away, I leaned closer to him.

'Don't do such stupid things again,' I whispered, leaning closer to his lips...

"Hey, Lily, is he alright?"

I quickly straightened, slightly furious that I didn't have a chance to show my affection. Turning around, I saw that it was Elaine, standing in the doorway.

'Yes,' I said, smiling. 'He just wanted some extra rest, so I used Hypnosis.'

"Ingenious," she commented, following the slight shimmer another tear gave off as it streaked down my face.

'I should ask you if you're alright. You were nearly crushed by that monster," I said.

"I'm alright. Seth managed to force that thing into loosening his grip on me with his Aura Sphere before Daemon cut the tentacles holding me." She was still looking at the tear that refused to drop from my chin. Wiping it away, I looked outside. The light was beginning to dim as a thunderstorm moved overhead.

'Incredible,' I whispered.

"What?"

I looked back at her. 'I think it's incredible that something as simple as a thunderstorm can occur at times like these,' I said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It puts everything into perspective, doesn't it? While everyone is running away from this virus, Mother Nature is going about her merry way and caring for the planet."

'It's peaceful,' I replied. '_But I wonder, for how long?_'

Continued in Chapter Three...

* * *

A/N: Daemon, Lily and new acquaintances are ambushed by the same being that terrorized them the night before, and they defeated it. Now, as a storm passes, Lily and Elaine share a moment of peace when the rest of the Pokemon world is in chaos. More to come in future chapters...

- UBE Chief


	3. Survivors

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay! But I hope that fifteen pages (on MS Word) of action and plot can make up for it!

Chapter Three: Survivors

* * *

"Sir!"

"What is it?"

"We have orders from the top brass."

"Well?"

"Here, sir."

The sound of shuffling paper, then silence.

"Sir?"

"This is the final decision?"

"Apparently so. They didn't see any non-infected biosignatures in the area."

"Alright. Tell the TNS to load up the ordinance onto the plane. We depart at 0900 tomorrow."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

I woke up and yawned, stretching as I did so, feeling something on my chest. I looked down, and saw a little Eevee curled up there. My movement caused it to stir, and it opened its eyes with a little yawn of its own.

"Why, hello there," I mumbled at it.

"Vee?" it said, slowly padding its way up to my face.

"You're a cute little fella, aren't you?"

The Eevee recoiled. "Vee!"

"Oops, morning breath, sorry," I said. The Eevee placed a paw on my mouth as if to tell me to stop talking. I couldn't help but grin at that.

'Lily? I think we have an unexpected - albeit cute - guest. Can you come here?' I projected.

It was then my stomach let out a ferocious rumble, and the Eevee jumped onto my face with a loud "VEE!" I ended up seeing nothing but its wet, brown fur, and smelling it too.

'I can see what you meant by a cute guest, Daemon. But you two look so adorable!'

'Yeah, yeah, I know. But seriously, can you get the little fella off of me? And give it a bath; if there's a functioning one in here, I'm suffocating from the wet fur smell.'

At that, I felt the little Eevee float off my face.

"VEE!" it said, doing a cute doggy-paddle in mid-air as it was lifted by Lily's Psychic powers.

Lily giggled. 'Come now, you need a proper shower instead of the one you got outside...'

I chuckled as the pair of them left. Getting up from the bed, I stretched, noting that it was mid-afternoon, and getting darker by the hour.

"Gah, shouldn't have overslept," I muttered to myself.

Moving into the hallway, I smelled something...indescribable. Sweet, but pungent at the same time. I followed the scent into the kitchen, where the girl and her Lucario were working over a stove. As I entered the room, I saw the Lucario's ears twitch, and he turned around.

"Finally woke up, have you?"

"Yeah...say, thanks for carrying me here."

"It was the least we could do after you risked your life to save mine and Lily's," the girl said.

A memory jogged. "Elaine, correct?" she turned around and smiled. "Then you must be Seth. Lily told me both your names earlier," I said.

"I heard the commotion in your room. Who's our new guest?"

"A little Eevee. Lily's seeing to it that the little one gets a proper shower."

Seth scoffed. "Eevee, huh? So little for so much racket."

Elaine giggled. "As I recall, Seth, _you_ were quite the rambunctious one when you were just a Riolu..."

Seth flushed, causing his fur to tinge purple, and swivelled back to continue what he was working on.

"What are you guys making? It has an interesting smell," I asked.

"It's something we used to make while we were travelling. It's a mix of Leppa, Oran, Sitrus and Tamato Berries, along with a few fillets of Magikarp and some herbs thrown in," Elaine said.

I inhaled deeply. "Smells wonderful. I can't wait to taste it," I said, turning around to leave the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw both Elaine and Seth grinning - I knew I had pleased them both with that compliment.

* * *

Back in the hallway, I heard some distinct splashing noises, and went to investigate. Next thing I knew, a wet Eevee was skidding around the corner, looking back as Lily rounded the bend, sopping wet herself, with a furious look on her face to boot.

'Get back here! I haven't finished cleaning you properly yet!' she said.

"VEE!" the little one called back, before looking in front, seeing me, and skidding to a halt at my feet.

I picked up the Eevee by the scruff of its neck and held it up to eye level. It cringed at my expression, thinking that it was in for the berating of its life.

"...Vee..." it said, as if to say sorry.

I didn't say a word; I just marched towards Lily, Eevee in hand. When I reached her, she cupped her hands and I dropped the Eevee in her hands. As she looked up at me, hair still dripping, I couldn't hold back any longer. I burst out laughing, clutching my sides for support.

'Wha...?'

"You...you two...look so _ridiculous_!" I gasped, tears flowing from laughter. Next thing I knew, I was sopping wet from a ball of water that Lily threw at me. That shut me up pretty well. Then Lily started laughing, me following after a while.

* * *

A few hours later, we were all gathered around the table in the kitchen, each of us having a plate of the Magikarp fillets that Elaine and Seth made.

"So, Lily, how did Eevee get the better of you?" I asked.

She flushed. 'It just so happened I looked away at the wrong time, looking for a brush, when she decided to use her tails to splash me with water and escape,' she said.

"Wait, our new friend is female?"

'Yes. I cleaned her, so I had a chance to have a look at what gender she was,' Lily replied.

"Hmm...We need a new name for her then; I can't keep calling her Eevee...How about Sue?"

The Eevee looked up from her bowl on the floor and yipped at me.

"I guess that's settled then. Your new name is Sue!"

Suddenly, there was a banging at the front of the Pokemon Center. Seth and I immediately stood up and took up positions on either side of the door, listening. Lily made DI float over to me, and I took it, racking the slide to put a shell in the chamber.

"Turn off the lights and don't make any sounds," I hissed.

As they complied, Seth and I edged outside into the hallway, listening to any sounds. A sudden rattle, and I had DI pointed at an open doorway. An empty beaker rolled into our hallway, and I gave a sigh of relief. But then, a slight shifting of shadow caught my eye, and I whipped around to face it, levelling DI to shoulder height.

"Aura Sphere, a small one. Let's see if whatever it hits is human or not. Then we'll decide if it's friend or foe," I muttered to Seth.

"It's not infected, that's for sure," he whispered back.

"Aura Sight? Whatever. We're going to have to see if it's here to rest, or cause us harm," I replied.

"MUNCHLAX!"

"What the -"

"Munch - Munch...Lax?" The Munchlax stopped dead as it saw me and Seth. With DI and an Aura Sphere in its face, it didn't know what to do.

"Munchlax? Where did you run off to?"

"M-M-Munch...lax..." it replied, still too fearful to do anything.

"You better not have eaten something rancid, you know we're running out of suppl..." a kid, just fresh from the Pokelab, turned around the corner and saw us. I immediately levelled DI at him with one hand and motioned him closer with the other.

"If you're not infected, then you have nothing to fear," I whispered.

The kid fumbled for something at his waistline, and I gripped DI with my spare hand, aiming at him. "Don't do anything stupid, now," I said. The kid froze with a sphere in his hands, and the first thing that came to my mind was 'GRENADE!'

I glanced at Seth, inclining my head towards the sphere in the kids' hand, and he fired off an Aura Sphere from his other paw, impacting the ground by the kids' feet. The light from it was enough to show me that it was nothing more than a Pokeball.

I lowered DI. "Phew kid, you nearly gave me a heart attack taking out that Pokeball," I said, nodding at Seth to stand down. Leaning towards the wall, I flicked a switch, turning on the lights in the hallway. All of us blinking, we took a moment to get used to the brightness. Taking a closer look at the kid, I saw that he was too skinny to fit his clothes.

"Come, let's get you something to eat," I said. The kid nodded and quickly got behind me as we walked back to the kitchen. "By the way, I never got your name."

"Alex. My name is Alex."

* * *

Military Base, Location: Classified. 0830 hours.

"Alright men, you've all been briefed on our mission. We get dropped off at the LZ along with the package, arm it, and hightail it before it goes off. A simple in and out mission. BUT," the man said, startling a few of his men, "that does not mean we should be taking it easy. You've all seen some of the freaks we killed a few days ago; you know what some of the worst look like. Assume that every human is infected and shoot to kill, leave no survivors. We'll be equipped with thermal imaging so at least we can tell the difference between humans and Pokemon: we don't want any unnecessary deaths to happen. Now gear up, this isn't going to be a walk in the park."

* * *

Thirty minutes later.

"Sarge?"

"What is it Private? The heli is about to take off!"

"Sir, new information. It seems like there are multiple heat signatures beginning to surround the target area, but there are also what appears to be a few survivors in the Pokemon Centre."

"Survivors..." he mulled this over.

"It's your call, Sarge. A group of few against the larger community. Plus, they could be infected."

"There may just well be Pokemon in that Centre, Private. We'll recon the area before arming the package." Before the Private could say another word, the Sergeant ran off towards the helicopter, intending to do the right thing.

* * *

Military Helicopter, Location: Fifty kilometres from destination. 0915 hours.

"Men, we have new intel. Turns out there may be survivors in the target area. Our primary objective has NOT changed. But I will take a team of four and recon the area. We will arm and bug out within the time frame at hand. Do I have any volunteers?"

"I'm up for it Sarge. I don't want no civi gettin' hurt on my watch."

"Good man. Any other takers?"

"I'll go. They may need medical attention."

"They're huddled up in a Pokemon Centre, so they may have the supplies already, but why not. Anyone else?"

Nobody raised their voice.

"Guess I'll have to make do with you two. Alright, we land in five, so get locked n' loaded!"

* * *

Daemon's POV

"Urgh..." I mumbled, stretching up from the bed. I glanced over at the clock on the wall. 9:25 am.

"Bah, too early..." I muttered, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Glancing out the window, I saw the golden light from the approaching dawn. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of brown. Adrenaline kicking in, I grabbed DI and aimed carefully at what I thought I had seen. Looking carefully, I saw it was just an abandoned bike, rusted from the rain. That's probably what Alex had ridden on when he came here. Turning back towards the bed, I didn't notice the shadow pass over the window. I should have kept looking.

The sound of breaking glass, I found myself thrown to the floor, a heavy being standing on my back.

"Get - the - FUCK - OFF - OF - ME!" I shouted, struggling to get up.

A snarling growl was the response I got, along with a stomp to my back, forcing my face back into the floor.

'Daemon? DAEMON!' I heard Lily shout, entering my room.

_Boom_

A snarl and the decreased pressure on my back let me know that the thing was off of me. Scrambling to my feet, I hurdled over the bed and racked the slide of DI.

"Focus Blast?" I asked Lily.

She nodded, and charged up another as the creature got up. What I saw next almost made me _not_ want to pull the trigger in fear.

Its head was missing.

Looking closer, I saw that it was not missing, but bent so far back, it looked as though it was decapitated.

"Holy Arceus..." I whispered. Simultaneously, Lily fired her Focus Blast, and I fired off a three-round burst from DI. The Focus Blast took out its legs, causing the thing to flip towards me…and right into the three rounds of buckshot, tearing it into shreds. From the silence of our battle came the sounds of Seth and Elaine shouting.

As we entered the kitchen, we saw that Elaine was fending off a few infected with a large frying pan while Seth was doing his best in hand-to-hand combat while firing off a few Aura Spheres every now and again. Alex wasn't around. Clearing a path through the infected, we huddled up.

"You see Alex?" I whispered, panting a bit as my adrenaline levels dropped.

"We thought he was with you!" Elaine replied.

'He can't be far, there's only -" Lily was cut off as a loud crash and a "SNORLAX!" echoed through the Center. We all whipped around, looking at the only other hallway out of the kitchen. One glance at each other, then we bolted through the hallway, the crashing and roaring becoming louder with every passing step.

"Which room is he in?" Seth asked.

"I don't know, let's start ch-" _BOOM_

Instantly, the hallway was shrouded in dust. Coughing, I tried to peer through the cloud to see what happened. Out of the dust came an infected person, so I whipped DI up, and its barrel was actually touching the creature when I pulled the trigger, causing the creatures' guts (or what was left of it) to fly right out of its back and onto the floor. It staggered back, looking at its stomach before taking one step towards me - just before it collapsed.

"If there's one thing I learned in my few days of fighting you bastards, it's that you don't just die from one shot," I said scathingly, bringing the butt of DI down onto its head before crushing the remnants of its spine with my foot.

"Done killing it?" Seth asked dryly.

"Pretty much, yeah. Alex! You okay in there?" I shouted.

"Yeah! My Munchlax evolved as soon as we got attacked, so he's more than enough to protect me!" he shouted back, climbing out of the debris.

"Good, now let's move before...what's that sound?"

A whirring noise was beginning to get louder, and it set all of us on edge.

"Sounds like...it can't be..."

'What is it, Daemon?' Lily asked.

"Helicopter. It's the military. Where the hell were they when the shit hit the fan?" I wondered aloud.

"No point sitting here and wondering, let's go out there and ask!" Alex said, moving for a hole in the wall.

"Hold it," I said, lightly gripping his shoulder. "We don't know what or why they're here for, so it's best to assume they're here to eradicate the virus and not expecting survivors. Let's watch them, see what they do..."

* * *

"Ho-ly shit! Is that's what's left of the Center? You sure there's survivors in that mess? Looks like a Bastiodon rammed right through that!"

"That's enough out of you, Corporal. Expect the worst-case scenario, survivors or no. We are still here to deliver the package and get the hell out of Dodge within the time-frame."

"And if there _are_ survivors?"

"Treat them as best as we can, and get them out too. If one is potentially infected, we will keep him or her under supervision in quarantine. Maybe one of the professors can help deduce what happened here."

A voice crackled in over the radio. _"Ell-Zee looks clear! I'm bringing us down! Watch your heads people, I don't want gore on my sparkling blades!"_

A few soldiers chuckled. A little bit of humour before the mission was always good.

The Sergeant chuckled as well, then clicked his mic. "You won't have to worry about your 'sparkling' blades soon - the dirt will make 'em messy!"

"_Aww, Sarge, you like to be a spoilsport, don't 'cha? Well, maybe I shouldn't land so softly, then!"_ A jolt as they landed, followed by the unwelcome lurch as the helicopter bounced, then repeated its actions. Three times the helicopter bounced before the Sergeant had enough.

"Alright Harvell, you had your fun, now bring us down properly," he called over the radio.

Static.

"Harvell, do you copy?"

More static, followed by another bounce as the helicopter began to inch towards the Pokemon Center.

"Harvell! I'll have you court-marshalled for this! Arceus-dammit, someone go check on Harvell!"

The closest soldier peeked his head into the cockpit. Without a seconds warning, the soldier brought up his rifle and fired off a short burst, followed by a long rip from his assault rifle.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?" the soldier screamed, firing off his entire clip at whatever was in there.

The Sergeant didn't even have to wonder what happened. He just grabbed the package and shouted, "BAIL OUT! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" and dove out of the slowly rotating helicopter, still moving towards the Pokemon Center. He watched as several others bailed out from the helicopter, but could only stare as the helicopter crashed into the front doors of the building.

* * *

Daemon's POV

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I screamed, shoving everyone I could away from the front doors.

'Wait,' Lily said, her eyes glowing blue.

"What...?"

She stood her ground as the helicopter bore down on the front doors, exploding in a massive fireball that just swirled around us.

'Protect,' she whispered, allowing the green-tinted shield to dissipate after the flames exhausted themselves.

I could see figures moving beyond the haze of dust and heat. "Lily, are those the soldiers?"

'Yes - or what's left of them.'

"What's left...?"

'Don't worry,' she said, turning to face me, 'they're not infected. At least, as far as I can sense.'

"So we shouldn't let our guard down. Lily, keep that Protect up, Seth, follow my lead." He nodded and we stepped out from the relative safety of the ruined Pokemon Center and into the open.

"If they try anything funny, don't hesitate to attack. We're here for our own survival, not to become one of the infected," I told him. He let out a low growl of understanding, keeping one paw behind him, charging an Aura Sphere.

"Easy now," a voice called out. "You can lower your weapon, and you can tell your Lucario friend to disperse his Aura Sphere."

We stopped, looked at each other, then back at the voice. Something just...clicked.

"Since when do the military recruit Pokemon into their ranks?" I called back.

The voice chuckled. "Inquisitive one, aren't you?" The man behind the voice stepped into our field of view, and said, "Well, ever since the enemy began using Pokemon in _their_ ranks, we've been at a disadvantage. I was the first, and soon many others followed." The dust cleared, and I could see the speaker was a Gallade, decked out in combat armour, with his chest piece sticking out at the front...and wielding a compact assault rifle.

"Nice weapon, got a spare?"

He chuckled. "No, this is the only one I have, I'm afraid. The XM29 OICW, the latest in modern assault tech. I do see that you have an AA-12 - a good CQB weapon to have on deck...like right now. Behind you!"

Wheeling around, I caught a flash of decayed flesh before pressing the barrel of DI into it and pulling the trigger.

"Command! We need evac, NOW!" the Gallade cried out.

* * *

Military Installation, Location: Classified.

"_Command! We need evac, NOW!"_

These shouts intermingled with the many others coming from various speakers within the room. At the far end, watching a large screen showing the positions of the teams he set out to deliver the packages, sat a General. This man, with so much background in fighting what he knew, sighed. He stood; sparing a glance around the room, where so many operators sat by, switching between looking at the screen and the now-standing General, waiting for an order.

"Initiate Program sixty-six."

A lone operator stood and walked over to a terminal with a blank screen and typed in a few commands.

"Sir, I need the key."

The General walked over to the terminal, reaching into his uniform. As he reached the terminal, he pulled his hand out from the cloth, holding a key on a chain around his neck. The operator took a close look at the General.

"Sir," he whispered, "You know we don't have to do this."

"But we must," the General replied wearily. "For the good of all man- and Pokekind."

At that, he snapped the key off the chain and shoved it into a keyhole within the terminal.

"May Arceus save those men," the General said, as he rotated the key, making the screen come to life, showing the words:

**PROJECT 66 ACTIVATED.**

**NOW INITIATING ACTIVATION SEQUENCE...**

**SEQUENCE INITIATED.**

**T-MINUS 120 SECONDS UNTIL DETONATION.**

The General saluted, praying that at least one of them would run, but knowing deep inside that they were all doomed. The operators in the room followed suit, saluting the men slated to die.

* * *

Daemon's POV

"Dammit!" I shouted, ducking under a flying creature, reloading as I sprinted towards the Pokemon Center. "Lily! How're you holding up in there?"

'We're fine, but hurry back!' she replied.

_**BEEP**_

I froze, spinning around to look at the Gallade, who also stopped dead, looking at the suitcase he was holding. Without warning, a spike shot from the bottom of it and impacted the ground as an antenna poked out from the top of it.

"Gah!" the Gallade cried out, clutching his head.

"What's the matter?" I asked, running back towards him.

"Psychic suppression devices!" he gasped, "Built to prevent any Psychic-types from meddling with or teleporting the device away! But why...oh no..." With obvious difficulty, he raised himself up and peered at the top of the suitcase.

"What?"

"Project sixty-six."

"What?" I said, confused.

He looked at me, a hard, knowing glare. "We're doomed. All of us, dead."

"WHAT?" I shouted, shoving him away from the sinister suitcase. On the top, there was an LED display that read:

**PROJECT 66 HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.**

**COUNTDOWN INITIATED.**

**T-MINUS 90 SECONDS UNTIL DETONATION.**

"LILY!" I shouted, making her appear next to me, then suddenly drop to the floor, writhing in pain.

"Dammit!" I said, picking her up and moving her away from it, so at least she could stand.

'What...is that thing?' she asked me.

"I think you better do some explaining," I told the Gallade.

"No time," he coughed. "We're all dead by the time I finish explaining what it is."

"Fine, but at least we're not going to die here, not today. Elaine, Seth, Alex, get over here, NOW!"

At that, all three of them (including Alex's Snorlax) ran up to me.

"Lily, can you teleport us out of here?"

'I can try, but that device is interfering with my abilities,' she replied.

I ran back over to the suitcase and peered at the display.

"You got sixty seconds, Lily!" I called over my shoulder.

Suddenly, I felt a slight pain in my head as Lily focused her powers into trying to teleport all of us.

"C'mon Lily, try harder!"

'I'm trying!' she said, pain evident in her voice as I felt my headache get worse.

"Forty-five seconds, Lily!"

The pain progressively increased, beginning to blind me in the process.

"Thirty seconds!" I shouted.

'You're not helping!'

"FIFTEEN SECONDS, LILY!" I cried out as the pain reached unbearable levels.

'Ah!' I heard her cry out, as all the pain disappeared.

"Ten...seconds..."

"VEE!"

I whirled around, and saw Sue jumping at my face, glowing, and landed just before I saw the counter hit -

Zero.

* * *

Military Installation, Location: Classified.

The General watched as the main screen bloomed with several infrared dots, each one representing a package detonating. Each package, decimating a one kilometre radius from the epicentre of the blast. On the sole terminal, the screen now read:

**PROJECT 66 COMPLETE.**

**ALL PACKAGES DETONATED.**

**SURVIAVAL RATE: 0%**

**TERMINAL SHUTTING DOWN.**

At that, the words faded from view, and a few operators broke out in tears, knowing that some of their friends were consumed in one of the many blasts.

The General walked away, guilt and sorrow tearing at his heart and mind. He managed to walk all the way back to his quarters and locking the door behind him before collapsing on a chair and weeping.

"There was nothing I could do..." he whimpered, opening a drawer and reaching into it. "I hope they can forgive me...in the next life."

He whipped out a revolver, locked the hammer back, pointed it at his head, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

Unknown POV

"Urgh..." I groaned. "What the hell happened?"

I opened my eyes and looked around. All I saw was a whole bunch of trees and a clear blue sky.

"Am I dead?"

'Unh...' a voice moaned.

I got up and had a proper look around. Right next to me laid a Gardevoir. She opened her eyes and squinted at me.

'Daemon?'

"Lily? But...what happened? Did you teleport us out of there?"

'No...I couldn't do it - that device interfered too much.'

"Then...we're dead...?"

'I doubt it!' a cheerful voice said. I looked around, but couldn't see a speaker. 'After all, _I_ was the one who saved you all! Including you!'

Suddenly, an object landed on top of my head. Reaching up, I found it to be quite fluffy and - cuddly?

'What, you don't remember me?' the voice asked, sounding a little hurt.

"Sue...?"

'YAY! He _does_ remember me!'

"But...how...are we not dead?"

'Oh, are we supposed to be? I remember Lily fainting after she couldn't handle teleporting all of us to safety, so I jumped in and did it for her!'

"Damn good luck, if you ask me," another voice groaned. I looked towards a bush and saw Seth standing up and stretching. "Could use a bit more work on the landing though, kid," he said, smirking.

'What, it was my first try!' Sue said indigently.

"Chill," I said, reaching up and scratching behind Sue's ears. She purred into my hand and hopped down, settling to just sit on the ground. I reached down and offered my hand to Lily, who blushed slightly.

"I do?" she giggled. I snickered at that, then grabbing her hand and pulling her up. One by one, the rest of us emerged, glad at the fact that we weren't dead.

"Now what?" Elaine asked. "Do we even know where we are?"

Alex pulled out a Poketch from his pocket and turned it on.

"How come you don't wear that?" I asked.

"Strap broke after Munch- sorry, Snorlax thought it looked like liquorice," he replied.

We all had a good laugh at that. Everything seemed five times funnier now that we knew we weren't dead.

"According to the Poketch," Alex said, "We're a few kilometres out from Jubilife City...wait, WHAT?"

"Sinnoh? All the way from Hoenn?" Elaine wondered in surprise.

"It's not that hard to imagine - but it is if you just got your Psychic powers," the Gallade said, looking at Sue with a bit of admiration.

"Hey, now that we're safe, I'd like to know something," I said.

The Gallade flinched. "I'm not telling you anyth-"

"What's your name?" I asked, cutting him off.

The Gallade blinked, obviously stumped, not expecting this question. He shook himself out of it, then replied, "Everyone calls me Sarge. But you can call me..."

* * *

Continued in Chapter Four...

A/N: This. Is. The. LONGEST. Chapter I have EVER written. I hope you enjoyed it!

- UBE Chief


	4. Edge of the Earth

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Four: Edge of the Earth

A/N: Used in this chapter are the lyrics from a song (whose name is used for the name of the chapter itself) by 30 Seconds to Mars.

* * *

"Everyone calls me Sarge. But you can call me -"

"Sarge!"

The Gallade whipped around, and saw one of his men running up to him.

"Private? What's wrong?"

The man skidded to a halt in front of him, panting. "Sir...it would just be easier to show you. And you won't like it."

The Gallade straightened, then turned to us. I nodded, showing him that whatever it was, we were going to help.

"Alright," he said. "Show me."

* * *

We ran along the pathway, not hearing anything besides our panting, and seeing nothing but the person or Pokemon in front of us. The wilderness was quite dead.

Or so we thought.

"_SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_

I yelled out in pain as the sound shot through my skull, sending me to my knees in agony. Through the pain and haze my watering eyes gave me, I recognized the move: Metal Sound. But this seemed overpowered, and I was wondering why - until I saw the soldier that was leading us wasn't on the ground.

"**GAHROOOOH!"** It took me a split second to realize that this soldier wasn't one of us. Not anymore. As I continued to look, I saw a sparkle in the sky. Blinking my eyes, I noticed it wasn't going away. Another blink; and I saw a figure to go along with the sparkle. Yet another blink; and the figure was bearing down on us - a Skarmory.

"DUCK!" I shouted, making everyone who wasn't already prone on the ground hit the deck, and I followed suit. A rough gust of wind, and I glanced up. To my shock, the soldier was still standing, and even worse, he-_it_ had the Skarmory by the neck!

"Skreeee..." the Skarmory said weakly, as the infected soldier increased its grip it had.

'Oh no you don't!' I thought savagely, as I stood up and ran over, nearly tripping over myself (and everyone else) to get to the duo.

As I approached, I hefted DI and aimed the butt of it at the soldier's head. A second just before I struck, it turned its head - right into my strike.

_Cra-ack!_

As the butt of my weapon struck the being, it spun around, losing its grip on the Skarmory and spinning onto the ground.

"SKREEEE!" the Skarmory called, grateful for the help. As I turned back to the infected soldier, I watched in horror as its head somehow managed to rotate back into place.

'DAEMON!' I heard Lily call out.

_Bang!_

I was so distracted by the head rotating back that I had failed to notice one thing: this infected can operate weapons. Glancing down at myself, I spotted a blotch of red on my clothes where there shouldn't be. Curious, I prodded at that spot, and felt pain.

"_**Now, die, like all of you will soon enough."**_

Snapping my head back up, I had one good look at the soldier. It spoke in the most inhuman voice I had ever heard.

"_**DIE."**_

'NOOO!'

_Bang._

No pain. No ground meeting my face.

I opened my eyes and saw a white and green being in front of me.

"Lily...?"

She turned her head back towards me, smiling a crooked smile, then collapsed onto the ground with a light _thump_.

"LILY!"

Turning her over, I saw a red spot on her chest, spreading as the blood flowed freely. Rage like I had never known before took a hold on me as I straightened up.

"_You...you will pay...for this."_

I turned my head at the being, who hastily took a step back from my glare before regaining composure.

"_**You? What can you hope to accomplish? Even your Gardevoir gave its life for you, and yet you still decide to fight?"**_

I snapped, and so did the head of the soldier, as I unconsciously whipped DI's stock into its head again.

"_My Gardevoir has a NAME! And HER name is LILY!"_ I roared, spit flying from my mouth as I rammed DI's stock into the beast's head again and again, willing the pain I felt to be transferred over.

_Bang._

I stumbled back from the second round that impacted me. But this only fuelled my rage further.

"_So you wanna play like this, huh? WELL I CAN PLAY DIRTY TOO!"_ I shouted, turning DI around and pulling the trigger. Round after round exited its barrel, recoil nonexistent as each round of buckshot hit the soldier's body mercilessly.

_Click-click-click_

Almost instantaneously I flipped DI back and used its stock to bash the soldier's head into the ground, tears flowing as freely as Lily's blood.

_Lily._

I immediately dropped DI and ran over to Lily, Sarge and the others already treating her wound. As I reached the group, Sarge glanced up and stared in shock. Soon, everyone else followed suit, staring at me as if I were a ghost.

"Is she okay?" I asked faintly.

"Lily? She's going to be fine! But you, on the other hand..." Elaine's voice faded as I collapsed beside Lily, the last thing I saw before fading away into unconsciousness was her face, eyes fluttering open as she, herself, regained consciousness.

"Lily..." I breathed. Then all went black.

* * *

Lily's POV

'Ungh...' I moaned quietly, as I opened my eyes.

"Lily..." I heard a voice whisper to me.

I sat up, but screamed in pain as my wound got the better of me.

'AAH! Ungh, Daemon! Daemon!' I shouted at him, but his unconscious form wouldn't answer. Flipping him over, I noticed he bore the signs of battle - along with two of the same wounds from the soldier's weapon. Lowering my head to his chest, I could hear a faint, but steady, heartbeat. He still lived. With the dirt on his face, I could notice the tear tracks, recently shed.

'_Wait, he shed tears...for me?'_ I wondered. _'No matter. I need to help him!'_ Focusing my powers, I used Recover - as best as I could, it being a move for the user, not for allies.

"Lily," the Gallade said.

'Not now,' I growled back, the interruption slowing the healing process.

"Lily," Elaine started, "you're opening up your wound, stop and let Sue heal him."

I groaned, now focusing on two things, healing Daemon, and placing a soundproof barrier between us, and the rest of the group. Seconds passed, and he was slowly getting better, whereas I was getting worse. As my wound reopened, I had less and less power to focus into healing him. After a couple of minutes, I let out a sigh, dropping the barrier and focusing the rest of my abilities into healing Daemon.

'I...I can't...con...tin...' and before I knew it, I passed out on top of him, and all went black.

* * *

"Sir?"

"What is it?"

"We have an active tracking beacon. It's from one of the TNS members."

"The TNS? Weren't all of them killed by the packages?"

"They were. Or so we thought."

"Find that member. And make sure that that member doesn't talk. Now go, quickly."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Daemon's POV

"Ungh..." I groaned as I woke up. Damn, it felt as though I've been stabbed through with a couple of ice picks...wait, what's on me? Cracking an eye open, I noticed it was night time, and there weren't any sounds apart from soft breathing coming from right next to me. Opening my eyes further, I caught a glimpse of a white fabric gliding over me as a light breeze blew.

Suddenly, I felt a light squeeze as the being semi-laying on me shifted in its sleep, and something poked me in the side. Moving slightly to accommodate the sudden contact, I saw a red reflection. Just then, some overhead clouds parted, and the moonlight landed on the figure sleeping beside me.

"Lily," I breathed. In all honesty, she looked absolutely stunning, laying there in the moonlight. Somehow, I just knew that it was she who helped me right after I helped her. Unconsciously, without thought, I leaned in close and placed a light kiss on her forehead, silently thanking her for risking her life to save mine.

'Thank you too, Daemon,' she suddenly whispered to me. I jumped slightly, not knowing she was awake. Lily opened her eyes, a beautiful ruby red, and kissed me on the forehead as well.

"What made you do it?" I asked quietly, not wanting to wake up the others.

She shifted guiltily, looked away and blushed. 'You,' she breathed.

"Me?"

She looked back at me, our eyes locking. 'You. You risk so much for us, not even giving a second thought to your own safety, and what you did for that Skarmory made me act on my own, as though something inside me wanted to help as well.'

"I believe that's called bravery, or courage," I replied.

'You have quite a bit of it...but what makes you act so? I wonder...' she drifted off, eyes glancing skyward. I followed suit, and spotted a shooting star.

'Make a wish,' Lily said.

'It's already granted,' I thought unconsciously.

Lily snuggled close to me, wrapping an arm around my torso as we succumbed to sleep.

* * *

"Wake up."

_You know enough to know the way_

Blearily opening my eyes, I saw the face of Sarge, with a look of concern on his face.

_Six billion people just one name_

"'Sup?" I asked groggily.

_(I found)  
I found tomorrow in today_

"It's not safe here anymore," he started, "We're being tracked."

Adrenaline firing through my veins, I shot up, sleep gone from my system.

_Apocalyptic and insane, my dreams will never change_

"How and when did you know?"

"I can still sense lifeforms through my limited Psychic abilities. Wake Lily up, she'll be able to sense them clearer."

_You wanna be the one in control_

"Why not ask Seth?" I queried.

"He knows. He's keeping an eye on the forest around us with his Aura Sight. Now get up, reload your weapon, and let's get moving."

_You wanna be the one who's alive_

"Lily," I said, rubbing her shoulder gently.

'Mmph...what?' she replied wearily.

"Get up, we need to move. Sarge says we're being tracked."

She opened her eyes, but instead of her natural ruby red, they were a mix of blue and purple.

'Yes, I can sense them. A group of five humans - although I can't tell if they're infected...and they're armed.'

"Damn," I muttered, getting up and moving over to where I dropped DI the day before - still next to the dead soldier. Picking it up, I noticed a glint of metal. Reaching out, I pulled out the soldier's dogtags.

_You wanna be the one who gets old_

'Hmm...Sarge might need these,' I mused. Sharply pulling on the chain, I ripped the dogtags off the corpse and put them in my pocket. Just then I noticed another object. The soldier's pistol. I picked it up and tucked it into my waistband at the small of my back. Moving back over to Lily and my pack, I rummaged around for another drum magazine for DI, and to my dismay, only found one.

I swore under my breath. "Fuck."

Ejecting the spent mag, I slotted the fresh one in and racked the slide. "Alright, let's move."

* * *

Walking along the path, we kept our eyes out for anything suspicious.

"Alex, how far are we from Jubilife?" Seth asked.

Alex checked his Poketch and replied, "Not far now, we just have to go over the next ridge and we'll be able to see it."

"And from there?"

"A short walk. I'd say less than half a click until City limits."

_It's not a matter of luck, it's just a matter of time_

A sudden rustle of leaves brought our attention to the forest around us.

"Lo...Lopunny..." a lone Lopunny stumbled out of the bushes, clearly in excessive pain.

"Oh my..." Elaine gasped.

Immediately, Sarge went up to the Lopunny and began speaking to it in Poke-speech.

"Sarge?"

"She's hurt. Apparently she got caught in the residual blast from an explosion...and it's burning her from within. Looks like I wasn't the only team dispatched with nuclear devices..."

"I'm sorry, did you say _nuclear_?" I asked in disbelief.

_Stand out on the edge of the earth_

"You haven't figured it out already? TNS stands for Tactical Nuclear Squad. We're demolition experts who use extremely clean methods of destroying objects."

_Stand out on the edge of the earth_

"Seems like these deployments weren't so clean..." I mused.

Sarge shook his head. "Guess not. My guess is that Command deliberately used dirty munitions to combat the virus."

"And now look what happened," Alex spat bitterly.

"I don't like this any more than you. All TNS' are trained with effectiveness and proper use of nuclear devices. How dirty munitions got into our supplies, I'll never know."

"There is one way," I said quietly.

Sarge looked at me with curiosity. "There is? Explain."

_Dive into the center of fate_

I looked at him. "We ask Command."

Sarge stared at me in shock. "Are you kidding me? We're being followed here, and you want us to reveal our position _more_?"

_Walk right in the sight of a gun_

"Not now. We go over to the nearest base and ask there."

"And where would that be?" Seth asked.

"Not that I'm entitled to reveal classified information to civilians, but this is a priority emergency. TNS are _strictly_ supposed to use clean munitions, nothing else. We have to get to the bottom of this before more innocent lives are altered."

_Look into the new future's face_

"Lopaa!" the Lopunny cried out.

'She's in extreme pain! Can't you do anything to help her?' Lily asked.

"Not when it comes to nuclear poisoning. That can't be cured as far as I know without special equipment - and that equipment is well out of our reach right now."

"So...what's going to happen to her?" Elaine queried.

"There's no alternative to ease her pain..." Sarge said slowly, walking back to the Lopunny, raising his right arm.

_I know you know enough to say_

"...So there's only one way," he said, stopping just slightly behind and to the left of the Lopunny, his blade extending. "Rest now," he finished, bringing his extended blade to bear, stabbing through the Lopunny's chest.

Lily and Elaine gasped in horror.

"LOPAA!" she cried out, clutching the appendage out of sheer reflex. Blood dripped from the blade as the Lopunny twitched, the life seeping out of her.

"Shhh..." Sarge said. "It'll be all over soon..."

"Lo...Lopaa...ny..." she gasped as she finally passed on.

"I'm so sorry," Sarge said, using a bit of Psychic to remove the Lopunny's body from his blade.

As the body collapsed onto the floor, Lily and Elaine snapped out of their stupor.

'Why? Why couldn't we save her?' Lily asked, tears forming around her eyes.

"As I've said before, all the equipment needed to reverse or slow down the effects of nuclear poisoning are far out from our reach. In the time it would have taken us to get her to a medical facility, she would have already died. I just put her out of her misery. I only hope it was for the better..." he replied, hanging his head.

"But why that way?"

"Would you want to scare her away because one of us drew a gun on her?" I asked bitterly, seeing the truth. "She would've ran and died anyways, but before she did, she would have spent agonizing hours, possibly days, in pain. You did it for the best," I finished, clapping a hand onto Sarge's shoulder.

"Yeah, but still..."

"**Lopaa..."**

"What the...?"

Me and Sarge froze and slowly turned around.

_I know you know enough to play a game_

"**LOPAA...GAROOOOH!"**

"No..." Sarge said disbelievingly.

'Aww, _HELL_ no!' I thought.

As we finished looking back, we saw the Lopunny...

_You wanna be the one in control_

Getting up from the floor.

Seth was by our sides in an instant, an Aura Sphere charging in his paws.

_You wanna be the one who's alive_

I raised DI to shoulder height as Sarge did the same with his XM29.

"Lily," I called back.

'Yes, Daemon?' she answered, worry in her voice.

"Protect everyone else for me, okay?"

'I will.'

"Good," I said, taking aim, "Now let's BRING IT!"

_It's not a matter of luck, it's just a matter of time_

As soon as I said that, the mutated Lopunny lashed out with its newly-created tentacles, scattering the three of us. Seth retaliated first, launching his Aura Sphere as Sarge and I got to our feet.

'I'll go high, you go low,' Sarge projected.

Making eye contact with him, I acknowledged his suggestion with a nod, then simultaneously fired on the Lopunny - full auto.

_Stand out on the edge of the earth  
Dive into the center of fate  
Walk right in the sight of a gun  
Look into the new future's face_

The Lopunny, however, had other plans. Taking full use of its superior jumping abilities, it dodged all three attacks. I had to be conservative with my ammunition, however, and only fired two rounds. But when it jumped, I fired off two more rounds as it gained height.

_Stand out on the edge of the earth  
Dive into the center of fate  
Walk right in the sight of a gun  
Look into the new future's face_

"Hold fire! I got something cooked up," Sarge commanded as he took aim with his weapon.

"What the hell are you going to do with that? Shoot a few Pidgey from the sky?" Alex called out.

"Well, I hope I don't do that accidentally," Sarge replied, "But I hope that this'll get that thing down just the same!"

At that, he pulled the trigger and we all heard a loud _thump_ as a round exited the top barrel of his weapon. Sarge turned to me and grinned.

"Wait for it..." he said.

"Wait for wha-"

_**BOOM!**_

I snapped my head up and saw bits and pieces of the mutated Lopunny raining down on us, but all of the pieces bounced off an invisible barrier. I heard a giggle behind me.

'Don't want you guys getting all messed up, do we?' Lily projected.

I rolled my eyes and smirked at Sarge. He grinned back, shouldering his XM29.

"We're not out of the woods yet. The ones following us. They've begun to pick up their pace," Seth said.

Grins turned to frowns all around. "Let's go," I said.

_Stand out on the edge of the earth  
Dive into the center of fate  
Walk right in the sight of a gun  
Look into the new future's face_

* * *

Five minutes of jogging up the hill and we were out of breath.

"Damn, the path is longer than I remember it," I gasped, clutching my side.

Lily floated past, almost flaunting her Psychic prowess in my face with a slight giggle. Flushing, I started chasing her up the hill, but whenever I got close, she giggled again and increased her pace. Soon, we were at the top of the hill, me nearly passing out in the process.

"So...much for...a game, huh, Lily..." I said weakly.

'Daemon,' she replied, fear and concern flooding her voice.

_(Stand out on the edge of the earth)_

"What?" I asked, curiosity flooding my own voice.

She turned, worry marring her features. 'That soldier...the one who was infected...he wasn't lying.'

"Lying about what?" I enquired, the memory beginning to obscure the present.

'He wasn't lying about anything. Look.'

Mustering up the energy, I walked up to where she stood and took a good long look at Jubilife City...

(emphasised) _Stand out on the edge of the earth_

...where hordes of infected, both human and Pokemon, wandered in and around the crater where a package detonated, a two-kilometre diameter hole in the ground.

"Arceus..." Sarge had managed to catch up to us and look at the scene before him.

One by one, the rest of the group came up to the ledge and see the horror that was waiting for us.

"We can't go through that," Alex said, beginning to edge away.

_Stand out on the edge of the earth_

"We have to," Sarge growled, anger clearly present. "I need answers. Why were so many good men, women and Pokemon killed due to either the virus or the military's careless usage of dirty bombs?"

_(Look into the new future's face)_

"As I've said before, there is a way to know for certain," I reminded him.

Sarge looked at me, resolute in his decision. "And I know where the closest base is."

"But you won't be getting there alive."

_Stand out on the edge of the earth  
Dive into the center of fate  
Walk right in the sight of a gun  
Look into the new future's face_

Continued in Chapter Five...

* * *

A/N: The true horror of the virus comes into play! Now that both human and Pokemon are infected, Daemon and Sarge finally see the path to receive the answers to the epidemic - but who is this new speaker?

- UBE Chief


	5. Hallucinations

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. Think of it as a filler, if you will.

Chapter Five: Hallucinations

* * *

"But you won't be getting there alive."

We whipped around and stood face to face against two Pokemorphs. One, a Hypno 'morph, and the other, an Alakazam 'morph.

'Lily, I thought you said five _humans_?' I projected towards her.

'I seemed to have picked up their human side - their Pokemon DNA didn't register with my senses,' she replied.

"So," I said audibly, "What happened to your buddies?"

"Same thing that happened to the Lopunny you faced earlier," said the Alakazam 'morph. Seems he was the one who threatened us earlier.

"Consumed! Consumed by the threat looming over all of the Regions!" cried the other, whose voice I determined to be a female.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but considering you saw us destroy that Lopunny," I began, reaching behind my back for DI, "you won't be offended...if we deny you your prize!" I shouted, tackling the Alakazam 'morph to the ground, DI shoved in his face.

"Aha," he said. "But there's only one problem with your strategy."

"And what would that be?" I retorted.

"You're already dead."

"Wha-?"

A sudden stab of pain shot through my chest. Looking down, I saw a green appendage sticking from it. Gasping in pain, I looked behind me and saw Sarge with a grin that would wipe any others from their respectful faces.

"S-Sarge? W-why?"

"Easy. So I could take...her!" he said, grabbing Lily from the rest of the group as they stood in shock.

'Wha- NO! Don't - Daemon! Help me!' she screamed as Sarge brought her down to her knees.

"Hehe...shut up, girl, and take what I'm going to give you." At that, he forced her torso to bend forwards and he brushed aside her gown. I knew what would happen next, and I couldn't do anything about it, as I collapsed onto the floor, watching the scene unfold.

"No..." I mumbled, wanting to do something - anything!

'Daemon, please, stop him! No, don't put that there; I was saving myself for - AAAHHHH!'

Her scream shattered the air, shooting through my skull as I watched Sarge take my Lily for his own.

"HA! Now that that's over, I think it's time to give you the full treatment!"

"No..." I said weakly, feeling my muscles protest against use.

'Please, stop! Daemon, I was saving myself for you!'

Rage filled my heart and my mind as I watched, watched as I felt around for the one thing that can ease my suffering.

Divine Intervention.

"Just about...finished...AAHH!"

'NOOOOOOOOOOO!'

Finding the weapon, I struggled into a kneeling position, tears flowing as I stared hard at the scene before me.

"Now that I got my fun, it's time for you to die, bitch!" Sarge said, bringing a blade down to pierce through Lily's skull with a sickening _crack_.

"No...NO!"

_BOOM_

* * *

Lily's POV

We watched as Daemon tackled the Alakazam 'morph, only to grip at something at his chest and keel over onto his knees, staring at some invisible scene. I knew then, that he had been Hypnotized by either one of the Psychic 'morphs.

'What have you done to him?' I shouted at the duo.

"Him? He's relieving a nightmare that we constructed out of reading each and every one of your minds the night before. Soon, that nightmare will drive him into insanity, and he will kill himself," the Hypno 'morph said in a sing-song voice.

"No..."

My eyes were pulled over to Daemon, who was now on the floor, twitching in apparent pain.

'You will pay...and suffer as much as he is suffering right now!' I shouted, focusing my powers into a Shadow Ball. Hopefully it will knock out whoever is controlling his nightmare so that he can escape its clutches.

The Hypno 'morph laughed, a high-pitched, cold laugh. "Silly girl, do you really think that KO'ing one of us will end his suffering? We _both_ control the nightmare, melding it to our hearts and minds desires!"

"No..." I heard Daemon say again, this time weaker than before.

"You see," the Alakazam 'morph said, "You cannot save him. He is doomed to die."

"No...NO!" I heard Daemon shout out.

"And it seems his time is now."

_BOOM_

The Alakazam's head exploded as his body collapsed onto the ground, blood and gore flying everywhere. From behind the collapsing body stood a figure, holding a weapon single-handed.

"Not at this point in time, and not for as long as I retain my sanity," we heard the person say.

The Hypno 'morph screamed and rushed at the person. In retaliation, the person used the stock of the weapon to smack her down to the ground as the figure tossed aside the rifle and approached the 'morph.

It was then, that I recognized the weapon thrown aside.

Divine Intervention.

'Daemon...?'

Daemon slowly approached the 'morph, reaching down to his ankle and withdrawing a glittering blade.

"You made me suffer," he started. "You made me watch as the most important person in my _life_ suffered at the hands of another. _You are going to __**pay**__ for this...with your LIFE!_" he shouted as he plunged the blade deep into the 'morph's body. She screamed as it went in, and screamed even louder when he twisted the blade before ruthlessly ripping it out from her body.

She coughed up blood. "You...you think this even matters? You cannot save those who are around you. NOBODY CAN!" she shouted as she coughed again. "The Virus will spread, consuming everything in its path. I know it. My lover knew it. And..._she_ knows it as well," the 'morph said, turning her head towards me. A look of understanding shot between the pair of us, and I turned away, knowing what would come next for her.

"That may be so, but people like you aren't going to stop me from trying to find a cure. So I hope that Giratina has saved a space down in the Distortion World alongside your lover, because you're going down there...in the most painful and horrifying way possible."

I threw up a soundproof Protect as she began to scream again, Daemon exacting revenge and justice to the one other being who caused him so much pain in a short amount of time. I heard Alex retch behind me, as Elaine gasped and Seth growled at the carnage. Five minutes passed, then I felt another presence enter the barrier.

"Let's go. Don't look back there, any of you. She's just food for the infected."

'What did you do to her...?' I projected over to him.

'I didn't kill her,' he replied.

'Oh, good, beca-'

'But she won't be able to move from there or protect herself aside from her limited abilities as a Psychic-type.'

'So...what _did_ you do to her?'

'You don't want to know.' At that, he closed off the connection between us and moved forwards, towards the annihilated city of Jubilife. As we moved along, following him, I slowly removed the Protect I had thrown up. Halfway down the hill, I could hear fresh screams as the infected found their meal...still alive and unable to move.

* * *

At the bottom of the hill, we had stopped to wash our hands and refill our containers. Daemon had gone off by himself a little further on, so I got up and moved to his side.

'Daemon?' I asked tentatively, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He jerked it away, and I saw he was wracking with fresh sobs, cleaning the blade he used to mutilate the Hypno 'morph.

'Daemon, tell me. What did you see?'

"You don't want to know that, either," he said, his voice hoarse. Without warning, he broke down, crying, almost leaning on me for support.

"Damn, Lily, I never want to experience something like that ever again. So realistic, I thought...no. I can't let you know. What happened in that horror of a mindfuck will stay with me," he said, choking with repressed sobs.

I knew that I was going to get repercussions from doing what I was about to do, but my curiosity got the better of me. I focused my Psychic powers into letting him relax, then dove into his mind.

What greeted me was not pleasant.

I watched, from Daemon's point of view, how he was betrayed, how I was taken and brutally raped, then murdered by Sarge, just before Daemon broke the Hypnosis and blew off the Alakazam morph's head with DI. It was then that I was forcefully shoved out of his mind.

I waited for his berating.

"Lily," he started, breathing heavily. "You are not to tell anyone - and I mean _anyone_ - about what took place within my mind. Understand?"

'Yes...' I said meekly, still awaiting punishment.

Instead, I felt his embrace. I squeaked in slight shock as I wasn't prepared for this kind of contact.

"Lily...no matter what happens...I'll be there."

I felt the sincerity in his voice, and felt calmed.

'And I'll be there if you ever need me,' I replied, returning his embrace.

* * *

Military Installation, Location: Classified. 2100 hours.

"General?"

"What is it?"

"Sir, the group we sent out to detain the TNS member has been...eliminated."

*sigh* "Bring me our AoD."

"Sir, the AoD? Is he even worth using over one person?"

"Yes. That person is too much of a risk to either get infected or to reveal our secrets. That person must be brought in, dead or alive. Our AoD will see to that."

* * *

After everyone else had gone off to sleep, I walked back to the cliff edge. Earlier, I felt that I was missing something, and I remembered what.

Divine Intervention.

I had forgotten to pick the AA-12 up after I had tossed it aside to exact my revenge upon the Hypno 'morph. If I had lost it, I would only have the hunting knife and the pistol from the dead soldier...which reminds me, I needed to check the calibre of the pistol.

Taking out the pistol from my waist, I turned it over in my hands. It was hefty, so it had to be a pretty big calibre. Ejecting the magazine only confirmed my suspicions. The round was the same thickness as my thumb. Going by this comparison, I deduced it to be a .45 Magnum round. No wonder why it managed to stun me while I was in my rage. This pistol could be handy in a tight situation.

Putting it back into its spot, I looked around. Ah, there. Picking it up, I was just about to shoulder it when...

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

I spun around, only to find myself looking at Sarge, sitting on the cliff edge, legs hanging over.

"It's a good thing you found your weapon, I don't have anything other than my XM29." He sighed, then looked over, his red eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

"It's ironic, isn't it? This much peace, only at night. In the daytime, it's almost impossible to relax, what with all the infected people - and now Pokemon - running around."

I huffed. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Sarge turned back towards the moon. Sighing again, he said, "Man, I remember a night like this. My first night with my mate, together, as one. I had a hard time trying to figure out what was more beautiful: her, or the moon."

"Really?" I was wondering why he was opening up to me.

Sarge chuckled. "You really need to figure out how to close down your thoughts. I'm opening up to you because I see the same bond that I share with my mate in you and Lily. I doubt anything can tear you two apart."

"B-but, we - we haven't..." I stuttered.

Again, Sarge chuckled. "I know, relax. I'm just saying you two have the potential to become very close, and you two are just dancing around the subject."

I was stumped. Sarge looked at me again, his red eyes piercing through me. "Don't worry when you'll have to ask. Both of you will know when the time is right. Now, how about we both get some sleep?" At that, he leaned forward, only to flip himself backwards and land gracefully at the foot of the path.

"Come, I'm sure a certain someone is missing you by their side."

I followed, musing over what he said.

* * *

I did not have a good sleep, unfortunately. Over and over, I replayed the nightmare I was forced to watch under the combined Hypnosis of the two Pokemorphs. I couldn't break out of the repeating nightmare, until -

'Daemon?'

"Huh? Whuh?"

It was morning, and Lily was bending over me, her face filled with worry. I groaned, pulling myself up into a sitting position.

"Morning, Lily."

'Daemon, what's wrong? You look as though you haven't slept a wink.'

"Far from it. I slept, but not well. I kept revisiting the nightmare I was forced to watch yesterday."

'I can help with that...' Lily began.

"No, Lily. I don't want you helping me with something like this." I stood and stretched, cracking a few bones in the process. "Damn, what'd I sleep on, a rock?"

'Well...yes.'

I turned around, and saw a flat rock. Apparently I didn't care where I slept, so long as it was beside Lily and comfortable enough. Looks like I picked wrong.

"You did pick wrong. And you still need to practice shutting down your thoughts."

"Stop looking into my head, then!" I retorted.

'He wasn't looking into your head, Daemon,' Sue said, jumping down from a tree onto my head. 'I heard you too,' she finished, purring.

"Aww, damn. Well, we better get moving if we want to get into that military complex, right?"

"We have a long trip ahead of us," Seth said, stretching himself. "We still have to go through Jubilife City."

"And I don't fancy walking through the mass of infected to get there. Is there any transport nearby?" Elaine asked.

"Well, we can search," Alex said.

"We can take our time. It's not as though the complex is going to move, is it?" I said.

"No, but we better start moving before something finds us talking about it," Sarge replied.

At that, we began walking down the path to Jubilife.

Continued in Chapter Six...

* * *

A/N: I began to run out of ideas towards the end, so I think it appears sort of rushed as I tried to pull it all together for the end of the chapter. Did I do the right thing, or should I have waited a bit longer for more inspiration? Let me know.

Also, the first one to correctly guess what AoD means gets a cookie.

What, can't a serious author throw out some random humour every now and again?

- Chief


	6. Entry Level Disguise

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Six: Entry-Level Disguise

A/N: I'M SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER TO GET OUT! T^T

* * *

We managed to find a pickup near Jubilife with the keys still in the ignition and a half-full tank of gas. Alex had to recall his Snorlax to its Pokeball as the rest of us clambered in or on the truck. Elaine was to be our driver, Alex took shotgun while Sue sat on his lap, while Sarge, Seth, Lily and I hopped on the bed of the pickup.

"Sarge, I think it would be best for you to aim forwards as you have the longer-ranged weapon," I suggested.

"Agreed. Seth can be both of our backup while Lily protects the truck from harm," he replied.

'I still haven't told anyone that I'm on my last drum magazine for DI,' I thought.

We all jumped slightly as the truck coughed to life, then started to move forwards, towards Jubilife.

We weren't even five minutes down the road when Alex called out from the passenger seat, "Incoming, dead ahead!"

"I see them," Sarge replied, then levelled his XM29 over the roof of the cabin. "Come and gets some," he muttered, barely audible over the roar of the engine.

_Bang_

I almost mistook the first shot from Sarge's weapon as a backfiring of the engine, until I saw a distant figure drop to the ground, downed by a headshot.

"Impressive!" I called out, "But let's see you keep that up with the hordes ahead!"

"No problem!" he replied, "I've done long-distance shooting before - this is a turkey-shoot!"

I kept an eye on him a he seemed to twitch to new targets as he pulled off single shots with extreme precision. I counted a good twenty infected killed before he had to reload.

"Okay, I think it's time to start clearing a path through them with a little more bang, if you know what I mean!"

I smirked. "Looks like we have to clean up the stragglers, huh Seth?"

Seth grinned, his canine teeth bared. "I'm all for it," he said, charging up an Aura Sphere in each paw.

"And you, Lily?"

'Bring it,' she replied, her eyes glowing that wonderful deep blue.

_Thump_

_BOOM!_

"Floor it, Elaine!" Sarge called out. At that, the engine roared, and we almost lost our footing at the pickup leaped, running over a few dead and alive infected beings.

I started pumping in a few rounds here and there on the quicker infected beings who were catching up with the truck, taking careful note of how many rounds I had left.

We continued like this for several minutes, having a few close calls as some of the infected Pokemon were beginning to realise the potential of their movesets.

"Here!" Sarge said, handing me his XM29, "I think you need it more than me," he added, his blades extending as he hopped on the roof of the pickup cabin, unleashing a few Psycho Cuts, Leaf Blades, among other blade-related moves upon the infected.

Acting on this, I switched to full auto on the XM29, and put a long burst into one infected Marshtomp that wouldn't stay down.

"Looks like this is one Mudkip evolution that I don't like," I said, switching to the airburst grenade. "Now eat this!" I roared, pulling the trigger and feeling the recoil as the 40mm round exited the top barrel, impacting the Marshtomp and sending it cartwheeling backwards.

'Three, two, one...' I thought.

_BOOM!_

"And stay down!" I shouted. Doing a quick check on DI, I noted that it was down to just three rounds. 'Fuck,' I thought. 'Sorry old girl, looks like you're done. Time to put your last three rounds to good use.'

I swapped the XM29 for DI and placed the last three rounds in a charging Rhyhorn, clearly intent on demolishing the truck - and us with it. It took about five seconds to realise that the three rounds of buckshot penetrated its skull before it collapsed, bringing down a few other followers down along with it.

"Damn," I muttered. "Hey Sarge!" I called over my shoulder, "The base we're going to; does it have ammo?"

"Do Ursaring shit in the woods?" he called back.

"Guess that answers my question, then!" I said smirking as I fired a few busts from the XM29 into a crowd of infected that seemed to not want to quit. I switched over to the 40mm, and let a couple rounds out.

"DUCK!" I cried out as the rounds landed. We all hit the deck, and a large explosion rocked the truck as a few body parts flew overhead.

"I can see the end!" Elaine called out.

We all let out a collective sigh of relief when it happened.

_CRUNCH_

The entire back end of the pickup tilted forward and the four of us fell out onto the ground. Still clutching onto DI and the XM29, I shook my head and had a look at the front.

"Oh, shit..."

A Rhyperior decided to jump onto the engine block, crushing it under its massive size, nearly sending the vehicle flipping end-for-end. The Pokemon roared and placed a clawed hand onto the cabin and began shoving it to the ground.

"No, Elaine!" Seth shouted, focusing his energy into a large Aura Sphere and throwing it at the Rhyperior. Upon impact, the Sphere exploded, sending the Rhyperior stumbling back a few feet. In response, the Rhyperior roared again, and I got an idea.

"Seth! Make him open his mouth!"

"Daemon, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking..." Sarge said.

"It would be my pleasure," Seth growled, moving in close and under the Rhyperior's guard, another Aura Sphere in paw. Using his momentum, Seth sent the behemoth head over heels with a Focus Punch uppercut before hopping up and using the recoil of his own Aura Sphere to blast himself back to us.

"Nice shot," I commented.

But the job was only half-done. The Rhyperior started to get back up, growling. As it got to its feet, it let out another roar, but this time I was ready. Hefting the XM29 to shoulder height, I flicked the switch for the 40mm launcher and fired.

_Thump_

The round managed to enter its mouth, but didn't explode. The damn tongue must've been soft enough to prevent detonation!

As the Rhyperior closed its mouth, wondering what entered it, we all heard a distinctive _crunch_.

"GET DOWN!" I shouted.

We all hit the deck just as the round detonated, completely decapitating the infected Rhyperior. But that gambit had its downside. The rest of the body swayed, just before leaning forwards towards the remains of the pickup.

Seth reacted first, moving so fast, I almost didn't see him. He just made it, groaning under the immense weight of the corpse as the roof of the pickup began to cave in from the total combined weight of both Seth and the Rhyperior's body.

"Well, don't just fucking stand there, HELP ME!" he shouted, knees buckling under the pressure.

Sarge moved, assisting Seth with the heavy body as the rest of us worked to get Elaine and Alex from the wreckage. As we got them out, Seth and Sarge heaved, tossing the dead body to the side and massaging their muscles.

"Urgh...remind me never to get on the bad side of a heavyweight again," Sarge said, stretching.

"Or ever," Seth corrected, cracking his neck.

"Hey guys..." Alex said.

"What?" I asked.

"They're leaving...the infected; they're all leaving us alone now..."

"That's...not a good sign...is it?" Elaine asked.

"Who cares, that just means that we won't have to fight them all," I replied, shouldering DI and handing the XM29 back to Sarge. "Now Sarge, this base, how far away is it now?" I asked.

"Not too far now...but I've been thinking, it would be too obvious if all of us came up to the entrance - the guards would get suspicious."

"How do you suggest we get access then?" Seth inquired.

"I need a volunteer for this..." Sarge began, looking around at all of us. We locked eyes, and Sarge nodded.

"I'm up for it, and you know that. What's the plan?" I asked. Next thing I knew, I was doubled over, clutching my stomach, before I found myself on the floor. I heard gasps and a few growls of disapproval. Coughing, I brought myself up to my knees.

"I see...you want a 'prisoner' so that the guards won't get suspicious..." I said, slowly standing up. "But there's one problem..." I started. Without warning, I slugged Sarge in the stomach before backhanding him in the back of his head, following up with a knee to his gut before using my momentum to rotate my body and turn the knee into a kick, sending Sarge skidding back a good five feet.

"...the guards would wonder why you're unscathed," I finished, going back into a fighting stance I had nearly forgotten.

Sarge stood up straight, rubbing his stomach and his head. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"I had several good instructors at the local dojo - my technique was developed from hours spent with a Lucario, Gallade and Medicham," I replied.

"Interesting...maybe I can teach you a few moves after all of this. But, for now, I think we look dishevelled enough to pass the guards inspection. Let's move."

* * *

Military Installation - Location: Jubilife City limits. Time: 0950 hours.

"So, what's really the plan?" I asked under my breath as we approached the entrance.

"Hopefully my credentials still check out for us to get inside. From there, we have to take out the security room - it holds the emergency alarm along with all the feeds from the cameras around the complex," Sarge replied.

"What happens after?"

"We clear the complex - hopefully without any casualties - but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, look defeated, we're coming up on the entrance."

As we closed in, I could see a couple of guard standing by a heavy metal door - most likely reinforced to repel any attacking infected being. Suddenly, I remembered that DI was strapped to my back - the guards might see it and then our whole operation would be blown out of the water!

"Sarge," I hissed. "DI's strapped to my back - let me do something that might allow you to take it from me without causing too much of a disturbance."

"Do it, but quickly," he whispered back.

At that, I snapped my head back into Sarge's face and made it look as though I was diving for his weapon when in reality I was just getting down to Sarge's level.

"What the hell was that for?" he whispered furiously.

"I know the guards are watching, quick, make it look as though you're subduing me and take DI, now!" Sarge nodded and quickly flipped up and placed a knee on my back and cut the strap DI was hanging from.

"Don't try that again!" Sarge shouted, loud enough for the guards to hear. Sarge picked me up by the scruff of my neck and shoved me forwards. I sneaked a peek at the guards; they seemed alert, but relaxed. Good. Our ploy was working. As we neared the entrance, one guard came up and addressed Sarge.

"Halt. Define your reason for being in a restricted area."

"I managed to capture a civilian - uninfected. This one might hold a cure for the rest," Sarge replied.

"You still haven't given your name and rank," the guard said.

"You never asked," Sarged replied, simply walking past the guard towards a terminal I hadn't noticed until now. A scanner slid out, and Sarge placed his free hand on it. He grunted in pain for a second, and then the scanner withdrew.

'They seemed to have added a DNA scanner in it...damn needles...' Sarge projected to me.

The second guard held up a tablet, reading its contents.

"Codename: Spartan; ID number: Sierra-dash-one-one-seven, correct?"

"The DNA match should be proof enough," Sarge retorted.

The guard smirked. "So who's this lucky _ess oh bee_? Another one for the labs, or one for recruiting?"

"Does he look fit enough for recruiting? He's going to the labs. He might hold the cure we're looking for," Sarge replied. Labs? What were they doing in them?

"Hey, chill, I'm just wondering. The infected hardly come near here anymore now that we've stationed fifty-calibre _ay em gees_ at every entrance."

"Fifty-cal autocannons? A little overkill, don't you think?" Sarge inquired.

"That's what we thought at first - and then they attacked. Ever since the TNS completed their missions, we've been getting attacked by both Pokemon and human infected. Just the other day, they brought up Rock- and Steel-types. We thought we were done for, but the _ay em gees_ just tore through them. _Ay pee_ rounds do miracles sometimes, you know? But enough of my ranting: you're cleared to proceed with your prisoner. B-cell block is about five blocks down and off to your right."

"Thanks," Sarge said, and was just about to cross the door's threshold when -

"Hey...aren't _you_ TNS?" one of the guards asked.

"They were all supposed to have died," the other guard replied.

We froze.

"Yeah, there were even Psychic inhibitors built into the bombs to prevent anyone from fooling around with them...so how did you escape?"

In an instant, I grabbed DI and bashed the overhead camera in just before Sarge reacted, knocking out the two guards.

"Fuck, they know that your squadron wasn't supposed to survive that mission, now what?" I asked, still holding DI.

Suddenly, an interior alarm blared.

"Now...we run."

* * *

Inside, we bolted past hallways and armed guards, all who were intent on stopping us, one way or another as I heard bullets ricochet off the walls.

"Are they that bad at shooting us, or are you using Protect?" I asked, huffing as we passed another hallway filled with yet more guards.

"Protect - to a degree. I hope I'm going in the right direction - all minor installations should have the same layout..."

"Where are we headed?"

"Armoury. I know you're out of twelve-gauge rounds for DI - and I'm running low on ammunition myself. Plus, there's armour in there - we can use it."

"But where -" I began.

"HERE! Get in, quickly!"

I dove into the room as Sarge slammed the door shut and used Psybeam to weld the door in place.

"Damn, NOW what?" I asked Sarge.

"Now," he started, "catch."

I turned to face him, just in time to catch a vest that was thrown at me.

"Dragon Armour - several hundred ceramic plates overlapping each other to provide ten times the amount of protection provided by regular Kevlar vests."

"Nice," I commented. I then started to browse the armoury, looking at the large variety of weapons that were stored here. Immediately, I took notice of the shotgun rack and made a beeline for it. As luck would have it, there were several AA-12's along with both box and drum magazines for it. I picked up several pre-loaded drum mags (32-round drum mags, this time) filled with standard buckshot and slug shells - neither of the shells being mixed, of course. A flash of green caught my eye while I was reloading DI.

"No way," I breathed.

An open lead container showcased the Frag-12 rounds I had used before. These could come in handy...

I grabbed an empty 32-round drum mag and proceeded to fill the entire mag with Frag-12 rounds. I did the same with another empty mag before closing the small box and pocketing it.

I then gravitated towards the sidearms, looking for more ammo for my pistol. I saw some heavy semi-auto's, but I could easily tell that they would be firing the .50 AE rounds - a type of ammunition that I had no experience with. After about a minute of searching, Sarge took pity on me and pointed out the .45 caliber handgun that I sported.

Speaking of, Sarge was buisily finding ammunition for his XM29 - both for the main and airburst rounds.

Just as soon as we had fully geared up, Lily contacted me.

'Daemon, something's wrong. The whole base is on alert, and there's a large group of infected amassing behind us! We can't move from here!'

I relayed the message to Sarge, and he nodded.

'Lily, link up with Sue and teleport to our position, we're both in the armoury,' Sarge projected.

Within seconds, Lily and the rest of our group appeared in our midst.

"Elaine, Alex, grab some armour, you may need it," Sarge said.

"We're not going to fight, are we?" Elaine asked, worried.

"No, but we can't risk anything happening to any of you. This is why I'm going to have to ask you all to stay here while Daemon, Seth and I clear out this facility," Sarge replied.

"Stay safe," Lily and Elaine said in unison.

Seth and I looked to each other, grinned and shrugged.

"Alright," Sarge started, "sounds like they're desperate to get in. Lily, Sue, how 'bout throwing up a Barrier for us?"

As a light shimmer appeared before us, Sarge and Seth simultaneously kicked at the door, bringing it down. Outside, several guards were waiting for us, weapons at the ready.

"FIRE!"

* * *

A/N: Bonus points to whoever finds the secret sayings within this chapter - there are two to find. One is obvious (as it's a well-known internet meme), and the other is from a video game.

I do hope that you enjoy this chapter though. Remember; Read and Review!

- Chief


	7. How it Feels

The Virus

Disclaimer: I, UBE Chief, do not own the copyrights to Pokemon. If I did, things would be WAY more interesting.

A/N: I know, I know, this is long overdue! I'm sorry! Hopefully the amount I've written will soothe your anger towards my tardiness.

Bonus points to those who figured out what AoD meant a few chapters back. You know who you are, and here's a cookie. BTW, that cookie is stored on your internet browser. Enjoy.

Chapter Seven: How it Feels

* * *

To be a hunter; to be the hunted.

To be a murderer; to be the victim.

To be, or not to be, that is the question.

But I am getting a little ahead of myself. Allow me to introduce myself.

Some of my foes run before me.

Some of them stand and fight against me.

Some of them even commit suicide rather than be finished by the likes of me.

My designation is known throughout the land.

I am...

_**"Die."**_

_Bang_

The Angel of Death.

Sent forth by the military, I am required to eliminate those who stand in the way of victory...including friendly forces - although Command only knows of those casualties as "collateral damage", even though I personally killed each and every one of them.

I prefer to work alone; a solitary hawk watching its turf for prey, waiting for the right time to strike.

What Command doesn't know, however, is that I was never on their side, not even from the beginning...but that's another story to tell, in another time. Here and now, I have been dispatched to deal with a few outsiders who have broken into one of the military installations. There are infected, but they're outside of my mission parameters...for now.

Right now, though, I was progressively making my way through the installation, killing any solitary soldier I could find. Apparently, the small group had locked themselves in the armoury. Ingenious.

Soon, I heard a commotion in a nearby hallway, and I went to investigate. A large group of soldiers stood poised, arms at the ready, at a door. That must be the armoury. This could also prove useful - killing two Pidgey with one stone, to use an old adage. As I hid around the corner, the door blew outwards. Time to strike.

"Fire!"

I raised two of my right-hand fingers up and focused. The immediate area lost its colour and turned into static-grey.

_**"Negative Void."**_

At that, I snapped my fingers, and a large pitch-black sphere appeared in the soldiers' midst, obliterating any traces of them in an instant as the sphere turned white from the inside-out.

Again, I repeated my actions, raising the same two fingers up and focusing.

_**"Negative Wave."**_

This time, I turned my palm around in a shoving motion, making a pitch-black wall appear before it, and allowing the wall to extend down the hallway, eradicating the rest of the soldiers who were still alive (and disoriented) from my first attack; again, as the void turned to a blinding white light from the inside-out.

Withdrawing an SMG from the depths of my cloak, I moved to the now-open door, ready to finish my mission.

* * *

We stood, transfixed, at the carnage before us...or would have, if the attacks we witnessed hadn't wiped the hallway clean of any residue.

"Oh no," Sarge whispered. "No, no, no. We need to get out of here, now."

"What? Why? Isn't that guy on our side?" Alex asked, confused.

Sarge chuckled darkly. "I wish. He's on nobody's side. He fights for himself. He doesn't even fight for his family."

"How do you know that, Sarge?" I inquired.

He opened his mouth as if to reply, then closed it. "Never mind. We need to get out of here before -"

"Hello."

We all jumped back, glaring at a cloaked figure lazily leaning against the doorway, a P90 hanging from a strap on his hand. The person took his time surveying each and every one of us, his view pausing on Sarge for a little while longer than usual.

"Sergeant, how nice to see you again," the person said, hood still covering his head.

"Sarge? You two know each other?" Seth growled.

"Yeah, you could say that," Sarge replied, a grimace on his face.

Something told me that this guy wasn't going to let us live. I slowly began to raise DI, hoping to not get noticed, when the man disappeared.

_"I __wouldn't __do __that, __if __I __were __you,"_ he whispered in my ear. Looking down, I saw the P90 pressed against my chest.

'And I wouldn't _dare_ do that if I were you,' Lily replied. We both glanced over, and saw Lily holding a Focus Blast in her palm. I had a quick look around and saw everyone else surrounding us, looking for a fight.

The man scoffed. "Amateurs." He twirled around, temporarily blocking our views with his cloak. Next thing we knew, we all had a weapon pointed at our heads.

"Hey Daemon, remember when I told you I was the first Pokemon to be enlisted in the military here?" Sarge asked.

"Yeah, but is this _really_ the time for this?" I replied.

"Well, it was half-true. I was the first to be enlisted in a _front-line_ position."

"Wait, _front-line_ position? Do you mean...?"

"_I_ was the first to be enlisted," the man said, whipping off his cloak with a flourish.

What stood before us was another Gallade - but his colouring was _very_ different. Instead of green, black; white, grey. His crest atop his head was a dark shade of red - similar to blood. His eyes and gem were still the standard red, but that only complimented his alternate colouring.

"Who...are you?" I asked.

"He, is the military's elite. He is...the Angel of Death."

The "Angel" spoke. "It's nice of you to introduce me to your allies, Sergeant," he said. "But you seem to have forgotten to tell them who else I am."

"Sarge?" I inquired.

He grunted and closed his eyes. "He...he's my..."

"Father. What, too ashamed to admit it, son? You should be proud to be my offspring."

Sarge snapped open his eyes and glared at the "Angel". "Proud? _Proud?_ Why should I be proud? I'm disgusted that I'm your son!"

_**"Insolence!"**_ The "Angel" spat, closing the small distance between himself and Sarge, backhanding him. "I gave you life _and_ my old callsign, and you're _disgusted_? I can easily take both away from you!"

Sarge slowly turned his head back to the "Angel". "But, what will Mother think?"

This seemed to stall the "Angel". "Damn. Damn, damn, DAMN!" He slammed a fist into a wall, punching a hole clean through it. Then, he sighed.

"Fucking hell. Fine. You all live. I highly doubt that my mate would allow _me_ to live if I killed any one of you."

'Damn straight,' a voice projected into our minds. 'What the hell were you thinking, Arc? Going to kill our only son? You would be lucky to be _recognizable_ if you killed him!'

"Arceus-dammit, Sam!"

At that instant, a Gardevoir appeared beside him, arms crossed and frowning.

'And what about his mate, hmm? What would you do about her?'

"Mother..." Sarge said quietly.

'John,' she replied softly, gliding over to him. 'It's been too long. Why have you stayed out of contact for so long?'

"Same reason as Dad, I guess. Military work keeps everyone distant from their relatives."

Just then, an explosion rocked the complex.

"Damn," Arc said, looking at the ceiling. "Seems like either the remainder of the forces here have started destroying the base, or we have a _very_ bad problem on our hands."

"Lily," I said, "You said that there was a large group of infected amassing outside, correct?"

'Yes,' she replied. 'You don't think…?'

"I don't think, I _know_," I replied. "Sarge, Seth, ready up. I don't think it's a good idea to stay here, especially considering that the autocannons didn't hold them back."

"Well now, that's only because I had EMP charges on them before I arrived," Arc said sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell us..._WHY_?" I shouted.

"You didn't inform me of the horde of infected assholes out there, ready to tear this base to shreds to get to us!" Arc retorted.

"GUYS!" Sarge shouted, "I think we need to get past this and DO something about it before we're all dead, capiche?"

Arc sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "You're right, son. Luckily they only need a reinitialization time of five minutes…"

"Well, all we have to do is wait!" Alex said loudly.

"…after we reboot the computer systems. Which, ironically, takes twice as long to boot up, not to mention the time it takes to get to the system core from here," Arc finished.

The air was silent as we let that sink in.

I sighed. "Well, we have multiple options here. One, we try and run for it -"

'Which is suicide,' Lily said, crossing her arms.

"- Two, we attempt to contain them by either controlled breaches -"

"Also suicide," Seth growled.

"- Or by luring them into an area before killing the lot of them -"

"Impossible, considering we don't know the exact size of the horde…and it's also suicide," Sarge - John - added.

"- Or we can go and attempt to reactivate the computer systems so that the autocannons can whittle down the infected before taking any of the above actions."

"That can buy us a lot of time," Elaine said, looking hopeful.

"There's one other option," Arc said, looking sombre.

"And that is?" I asked, glaring at him suspiciously.

"The self-destruct mechanism. It's a last-resort system, utilizing seven tactically-placed nuclear warheads in and around the underground complex. Also, ironically, the system for it is in the main computer core - where we have to go to reset the systems for the autocannons."

I balked. "Are you serious? I didn't lead everyone here to die!"

"And yet _you_ lead them _here_," Arc replied, looking at me with a grim smile.

"We came here looking for answers, father. Not to get ourselves killed," Sarge retorted.

"Answers as to why Command sent you and countless others on a suicide trip to the various cities and towns in a pathetic attempt to control this outbreak?"

We stood in shock.

"Yes, I knew about it. I was one of the head commanders who authorized the mission - but not without trying to see if there were other options first."

'And here I thought you had been completely taken over by Darkrai…' Sam contemplated.

"Only during battle. His control lasts for a while before I can control myself once again. Anyways, what's it going to be?" Arc asked as the explosions grew louder and more frequent.

"Stupid question. C'mon everyone, let's go and reactivate those computer systems!" And with that, I lead everyone out into the hallway, following Sarge's instructions on how to get to the mainframe.

* * *

Back in the armoury, Arc sighed.

"Damn kids. Gonna go and get themselves killed…"

'They don't have as many chances as you do, Arc. What happened to you? You're not the same Gallade I fell in love with all those years ago,' Sam asked.

"Shit happens," he replied, then teleported away.

Sam sighed as well, then followed suit.

* * *

Several minutes later (and many collapsed pathways), we found the mainframe.

"'Bout damn time," Alex groaned, stretching his legs.

Nobody spoke back; we were all too damn tired from the events.

"Alright, which one is the terminal to reset the autocannons?" I asked around.

There was a sudden _whoosh_ next to me, and I jumped aside, startled.

"We need to access the main terminal. It holds all the codes to reset any system in the complex," Arc said, showing indifference to my reaction to him. He moved over to a larger computer and pressed a key. Instantly, the screen came to life, a blaring, flashing red:

**WARNING:**

**COMPLEX DEFENCES DOWN**

**SATTELITE CONNECTION LOST**

**LAST RECEIVED TRANSMISSION AVAILABLE FOR REPLAY**

**REPLAY? Y/N**

Arc pressed the "Y" key and the screen changed again, to a video of an older man, clearly military, sporting salt-and-pepper hair. It was then I noticed the five stars gleaming on his shoulder. A General of the Army.

"_To anyone who receives this message:_

_All hope is lost. All transmissions to and from our main research facility has been lost. We assume all have been killed or transformed. That facility housed the one possible cure to this disaster. We cannot send anyone to the facility, as it is nearly too remote to get to by land, and impossible to get to by air because of its superior anti-air defence grid which is on a separate nuclear power supply deep underground._

_We have realized that our usage of the nuclear warheads in the failed Tactical Nuclear Squadron mission has jeopardized Pokemon DNA to the mutagen, and now anyone and anything is vulnerable to it. Our only hope is that someone, somewhere, is immune to this._

_In the possible event that all of our underground complexes have been overrun, I have all stations to self-destruct within forty-eight hours of this message being sent. All personnel are to immediately evacuate to a safe area and prepare for the worst. Only the main research complex will not be destroyed in case there is someone who can get to the cure and distribute it._

_Coordinates to the research complex are in an attached folder. Remember, you have forty-eight hours from the time I send this message until your complex detonates. Good luck."_

"Forty-eight hours…someone check the time and date it was sent!" Sarge shouted.

I quickly ran over to the terminal and checked the time stamp of the video.

It was forty-seven hours old.

When I turned back to the group, Sarge and Arc instantly read my expression.

"We need to move out, NOW," I said.

"But what about restarting the -"

"You don't understand - we NEED to move NOW!" I almost yelled. I turned to Sarge and Arc. "Motorpool. Where." The pair looked at each other and said simultaneously: "Follow me," before turning and running right out of the room. I bolted after them, and only hoped everyone else was following.

Lily sighed before turning to the computer console. 'Does anyone know how to get info from this thing?'

* * *

We finally reached the motorpool. I looked behind me, only to find out that nobody had followed.

"Where is everyone?" I asked aloud.

With a soft _whoosh_, Lily appeared next to me, along with everyone else.

'You forgot to get the co-ordinates from the terminal, Daemon,' she said softly.

"Ah, damn. I knew I forgot something."

'Luckily for you, she decided to get the info after you ran~' Sue yawned, perched atop Elaine's head.

I facepalmed. "What'd I do without you, Lily?"

'I'm glad we don't have to find out,' she replied with a smile, taking a hold of my arm.

"Okay, now that that's over with, how about we get back to running? How much time was left, Daemon? You never told us," Sarge said.

"Ah, shit, right! The timestamp was from over forty-seven hours ago, so we need to get moving!"

"That's not enough time," Arc said.

"Not enough time for what?" I asked.

"Minimum safe distance is well over twenty kilometres. We'd get about fifteen before the complex detonates."

"Perfect," Seth growled sarcastically.

"If we had known one, maybe two hours before, we wouldn't have lingered as much..."I said, slouching.

"Nothing you can do about it," Sarge said. "We probably still would've done the exact same thing - we needed the supplies."

'But we can still teleport to a safe distance, right?' Lily asked, worried.

"If - and this is a big if - we combine all of our psychic powers into it. Not many know this, but there are psychic dampeners built into all of the complexes - they're just turned down a lot to allow for minor teleportation in and around them, not for long jumps," Arc said.

"Then let's do it! We're wasting time talking about it!" Alex said; eager to get away from this place.

"Alright, everyone stay close. Lily, Sue, you two are going to have to sync telepathic signals with me and John for this to work," Arc said, taking a deep breath.

I could feel them combining their powers, as the side-effect was pressure behind the eyes for all non-psychics. I had to start rubbing my temples to ease the pain as their concentration built up.

"Almost...there..."Arc muttered, a clear purple-blue outline surrounding him and beginning to show up on us.

_**CRASH**_

"WHAT THE F-"

Standing in the massive hole it created, stood a massive monster. Well over seven feet tall, heavily-built, my first thought was-

_Run._

At that simple thought, our claustrophobic surroundings disappeared, only to be replaced by a setting sun, some hills, and...

"_**GAHROOOH!"**_

Surrounded by the mass of infected beings, ready to tear our throats from our still-breathing bodies. Battle instinct took over.

"Lily, Protect!" I cried out.

A glittering green sphere expanded from her, pushing all infected masses away from us - if only for a short while.

"We are NOT at the minimum safe distance!" Arc shouted.

"You think _they_ give two shits? This Protect won't last long enough for all of us to get our bearings straight, so get prepped for battle!" I retorted, jerking my head towards the infected, now beating their limbs bloody against the protective shield surrounding us.

'_It__'__s __now __or __never,__'_ I thought.

"SCATTER!" someone shouted behind me. I whipped around, DI at the ready, only to see the horrifying scene before me.

That monster - that same monster from the motorpool - was charging toward us. I knew that the Protect would have no use against it. Everyone was already moving, in slow motion, as my adrenaline decided to kick in at the sight before me. I turned around once again, only to see Lily standing in fear at the behemoth.

"Lily!" I shouted, trying to get her attention. No dice. "LILY!" I shouted again. A blink. She slowly looked at me, as if asking what to do next. No more time. I ran over to her and pushed her out of the way just as the being broke through the Protect and shattered Lily's concentration. As I whipped around once more to face it, it managed to grab me and began shoving through the crowd of infected.

Now that I was up close and personal, I realized that this beast was a horribly mutated Machamp. _"__I __need __to __get __it __off __of __me!__"_ I thought as I attempted to raise DI. In fear, I realised that the Machamp had my limbs pinned as it shoved the pair of us through many creatures in an effort to wound me. I was working, but it wasn't to the desired effect. I had to do something.

Gritting my teeth, I headbutted the beast. It roared, spittle flying in my face. I tried again, wincing in pain from the contact. Seems like the infected still have some sense of pain, as I felt the Machamp lose a bit of grip on my right arm. Good enough. I managed to rotate DI into a somewhat usable position and pulled the trigger. With each round escaping the barrel, the Machamp's grip grew weaker. After I counted seven shots, the grip on my right arm was non-existent.

I twisted around slightly and saw we were headed for a wall. _"__Oh __shit, __this __is __gonna __hurt!__"_ I rotated back and placed DI under the Machamp's chin - and pulled the trigger once more. As its head exploded into a meaty mess, I realized, too late, that our momentum would still bring us to the wall at quite a clip. At the same time, I noticed that the corpse wasn't holding me tightly anymore, and it was slowly collapsing forward.

I shouted in surprise as I hit the ground, rolling backwards until I slammed into the wall. I felt the air leave my lungs, saw my vision explode into stars, and the world slowed down to a snail's pace. I tried to roll to my right, cursing in my head that I seemed to be moving far too slowly for my liking.

Disoriented, I staggered to my feet, looking around for DI. The world was still moving too slow. As I bent down to pick DI up, blood rushed into my head, giving me a very weird sensation. Although time was slow - still - it appeared to me as though everything was moving faster, too. I spotted an infected Marowak charging me with its bone.

"_Too __slow,__"_ I thought. Sidestepping it, I calmly placed DI's barrel in line with its head, and pulled the trigger. After the gore stopped falling, it was only then that I noticed that the rest of the infected were quickly retreating. I wondered why. Suddenly, I felt an electric shiver travel up my spine. Did nuclear weapons have an EMP before, or after detonation? Just then, the world went dark.

* * *

Lily's POV

"_Where __is __everyone?__"_ I thought as I blasted yet another infected being away from me. After Daemon pushed me away, it was chaos. Everyone got separated, and it was hard to keep focus on anyone at any given time. As far as I knew, Daemon, Arc, John, Sue and myself were alone, while Alex, his Snorlax, Elaine and Seth were together in a group, holding their own. I tried getting to Elaine, but the horde of infected was just too thick to get past, and every time I attempted to float above it all, there was some grotesque..._thing_ coming at me from the air, so I had no choice but to go back down into the horde.

I began focusing, creating a barrier around me to prevent interruption. I could only do a few of these before tiring myself out, and I didn't want that to happen while I was completely surrounded.

"Garde..." It's been a while since I actually had to say my species name. We usually only need to do so when preparing a powerful move - like now. All other times, we try and talk to our trainers via telepathic transmissions, but most of the time it just comes out as our species name. I took a deep breath and crossed my arms.

"Voir!" I shouted as I brought my arms out in a sweeping motion, creating a massive bubble - a Psychic bomb, if you will. I was already somewhat tired from dispatching so many other creatures that this bomb drained me more than it should have. I need to move. Immediately I scanned, looking for the closest source of clear intelligence. Yes. There. Locking onto it, I teleported, appearing next to John.

"Tough times, huh?" was the first thing out of his mouth, firing his weapon into the horde.

"No hello?" I replied, using our native tongue.

"Duck," he said, and I complied, firing a Psybeam at a charging Rhyhorn - or what was left of one - as he fired over my head at something else. "Hi. Where's Daemon?"

"Lost track of him - and everyone else - right after he pushed me out of the way of that gigantic creature. You were the first clear-headed being I could lock on to," I replied, now standing back-to-back with him, our gems nearly touching. I blushed from the close proximity.

"Don't worry. I've already got a mate of my own. By the way, I know you've been keeping the news from everyone else - especially Daemon. Has he ever sent you to a Daycare to handle that?"

I blushed harder and sent a feedback of Psychic energy at him to show my discomfort in the subject.

He laughed as he blew another head off. "I see. Well, I won't tell anyone, but I'm quite sure my father and Seth already know. Not sure about the rest, however."

"Is this really the time and place to talk about this?" I growled, putting far more power into my attacks than was necessary.

John chuckled. "If we aren't going to talk about it now, then we might as well talk about it when everyone's back together...by the way, are you a -"

"Shut up!" I yelled at him. I know he was just wondering, but my body is my privacy...until I decide otherwise.

"Wait, what's going on? I noticed a whole lot less infected attacking us - it seems like the rest are retreating," John wondered, lowering his weapon.

"I think that might be a question to ask your father..." I replied, motioning to a steadily darkening figure in the distance.

* * *

Arc's POV

"_**Kill them."**_

"_No."_

"_**Kill them."**_

"_I will not let you control me!"_

"_**Kill them. Kill them ALL."**_

"_Get out of my head!"_

"_**We both know that you can't stop me."**_

"_I can damn well try!"_

"_**Submit."**_

"_No!"_

"_**You WILL submit!"**_

"_Get the fuck out of my head!"_

"_**Feel the darkness...be consumed by it...USE THE POWER I GAVE YOU!"**_

"_I won't use it for your gains!"_

"_**USE THE POWER!"**_

"GET - OUT - OF - MY - HEAD! AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

I couldn't hold back the darkness. I needed to release. I had to submit - if only temporarily. Darkrai won't get full control. Not today. Not now. I just needed him to use me so _I_ can use _him_.

My eyes snapped open, revealing a grey landscape of the battlefield I was fighting in. The infected were running away from me - and rightly so. It seemed Darkrai still had an insurmountable hold of fear in these beings' bodies. They seemed to be converging on a point over a hill for a second attack. I would not let that happen.

"_**No, what are you doing? Discharge the move here!"**_

"_No."_

I teleported in their midst, taking them by surprise. I must've been a terrifying sight to behold - a darkly-coloured Gallade, surrounded by a visible Aura of death and darkness. Time slowed down and the grey slowly turned into static as I charged up the pent-up darkness inside me. I saw them running again.

"**Too ****slow. **_**Negative **__**Bomb!**_**"** I shouted as I slammed a fist into the ground.

"_**NOOO!"**_

"_This time, Darkrai, you lose."_

* * *

Panoramic view of the complex (as seen from a security camera)

A large sphere of pitch black seemed to appear from just over a hill, quickly encompassing everything in its path. As it approached the complex, everything in front of the camera turned to static before suddenly filling into a void of darkness. Seconds later, the screen fills to white before dissolving into static; then cuts out altogether.

* * *

A/N: This is now the longest chapter I've put out - second only to Chapter Three, that is. Fourteen pages, over 4,500 words on Microsoft Word, and hopefully enough of a storyline to hold your appetites until the next chapter.

To be honest, I didn't have much inspiration going for me about halfway to two-thirds in, so that's the main reason why the chapter got delayed for so long. I'm truly sorry for that.

So, until next chapter,

- UBE Chief

P.S. Yes, I threw a techno-cookie at you guys. Clever, huh? Nerdy-ness ftw...?


	8. Heat

The Virus

Disclaimer: See previous Chapter.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I guarantee that the wait is totally worth it. Enjoy the awesomeness.

Chapter Eight: Heat

* * *

"_No! Daemon!"_

I gasped as my eyes snapped open. Was this a premonition? It felt like it, but I wasn't too sure if it was positive or negative. I felt pain, but pleasure at the same time. Curious. I sat up and had a look at my surroundings. After Arch's attack, I had lost all sense of direction. Apparently I was lying underneath an old oak tree, bent from time and the elements. I looked up and had to suppress a giggle, for John was lying in _the_ most awkward position up in the tree. No doubt it was uncomfortable as hell, but that didn't make it less funny.

"Shut up," he groaned.

"I didn't say anything," I replied, grinning.

"No, but I felt your emotions," he said back, now trying to untangle himself from the branches. I watched with interest for about five minutes before he gave up.

"Ah, screw it," he sighed, eyes glowing purple as his blades extended, unleashing a Psycho Cut. "Sorry old boy," he said, patting the oak, "But this is a simple injury to what might happen to me if I was stuck up there."

"So, why are we calling your father Arc?" I asked John.

"It's short for Archaeon - just as Sam is short for Samantha, in my mother's case," he replied, scanning around. "Speaking of which, where _is_ he?"

'Over here!' a voice called out to us. Due to her Psychic signature, I figured out it was Sue. We teleported to where she was to find her sitting on a Gallade.

"Who...?"

"It's...dad. What happened?"

Indeed, it was Arc after a bit of Psychic prodding. He looked completely normal now - besides his crest, which was still a blood red in colour.

"I have a hypothesis," Sue said. "After his attack, Arc used up both his and Darkrai's energies, and so Darkrai retreated from his body, leaving him like this."

"Hmm..." John mused. He then bent over to lift his father up, taking an arm and slinging it over his back. Sue hopped off and decided to stay on my shoulders, purring as she cuddled up.

"But what about his crest?" I asked, not knowing much about it.

"Our crests change with our actions - no doubt my father's turned this colour after years of bloodshed. Mine stayed pretty much the same as I've only killed when necessary and with justification. That, and I tended to tune the deaths out."

I pondered that for a minute. John's crest _was_ a darker tint of blue not normally seen on other Gallades. I pushed that to the back of my mind for now.

"Well, where are the others?" I asked.

"I sensed Seth a while back. He and the others are fine, just a bit winded from the attacks. I've yet to find Daemon, however," Sue reported reluctantly.

'_No!'_ I thought. He couldn't be dead, I would've felt it!

"Ease your mind, Lily. I said I've yet to _find_ Daemon, not sense him. He's still alive somewhere, but I can't do heavy lifting with just my Psychic powers," Sue said, squeezing her body closer to mine. Now that I concentrate, I could sense him, too. I couldn't gain access to his mind, however. He must still be unconscious, wherever he was.

* * *

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

I slowly opened my eyes, trying to remember what happened. I think I got pushed into that damn complex again - and near a broken pipe, no less. I tried sitting up, moving my legs into a better position, when -

"Ah!" I gasped, hissing in pain, grabbing at my right leg. I tried to feel the spot where it hurt in the dim light, and finding a slim, cold bar. At my touch, pain shot through my leg, causing me to gasp again, releasing it.

"Motherfucker," I said to myself. A piece of rebar had gotten through my leg, passing between bones, I could tell. As if that wasn't bad enough, blood was steadily dripping from the wound onto the floor - making that noise earlier. I had to get that rebar out from my leg. Removing my shirt, I took notice of several bruises on my body. That infected Machamp did a number on me.

I tore my shirt into strips, preparing for the blood flow to come. Gripping the rebar, the only thought that went through my mind was:

'_Arceus-damn, this is gonna hurt.'_

I pulled the rebar, roaring in pain as it came out, blood pouring out of the wound now. I quickly made a tourniquet using my shirts' remains to stem the flow. Gritting my teeth in pain, I stood up, trying to get a better look at my surroundings. Ok, empty storage room, door blocked and/or caved in, and a nice avalanche of debris waiting to collapse where I fell in - glad it didn't fall on me while I was out cold.

Looking at the floor now, I spotted DI - damaged now from both the Machamp and the debris - hopefully she still fired. I lifted DI up, looking at the barrel, trying to see any cracks, bends or dents in the metal. She looks good, but there's only one way to test out for sure. Pulling the bolt slightly back, I noticed that there was still a round within the chamber - good enough. I turned around and aimed at the hole where I fell in, and squeezed the trigger.

_BOOM-click-click-click_

Ah, right. I forgot that the drum mag wasn't on when I found DI - I must have a mild concussion. I need to have Lily check that out for me when I find her - if she's still alive, that is.

'_Don't think like that!'_ I scolded myself. _'Knowing her, she's still alive and with the others.'_

I began scanning the floor again, looking for my pack. It took a good five minutes for me to find it in the semi-darkness. Opening it up, I scoured the pockets for where I stored the two drum mags of Frag-12 rounds.

"Aha," I muttered, pulling one out. I was going to need at least one full magazine for what I was going to do. Loading it in and pulling and racking the charging bolt, I aimed at the caved-in hole where I fell in.

'_Hope this works...'_ I thought. I slowly squeezed the trigger...

"What do you think you're doing?" a voice called out. Startled, I whipped around, finger still on the trigger.

"Who's there?" I called back.

At my response, a man in a lab coat walked out from behind a pillar. I noticed he was hiding something in his right hand, behind his back. I kept that image in mind as he slowly walked closer.

"I asked first: What do you think you're doing?" he replied.

"Trying to get out of here. What does it look like?" I retorted.

"Trying to get more of those infected beasts down here, what with all that screaming and shooting you've done," he answered. "And, from the looks of it, you've been attacked by them, too. You're infected, aren't you?"

"I'm not," I replied, keeping track of his right arm.

"Liar. You've been injured by at least one, and you're telling me you're not infected?" he spat at my feet. "As far as what I've been told, all infected beings must be terminated."

"Does it look as though I've been infected?" I growled at him.

"Why yes, yes you do," he replied, grinning.

"You're crazy," I stated, backing away slowly. I still had DI pointed at his general direction, but he kept coming closer.

"Crazy? Far from it. I'm perfectly sane. It's you who's delusional and in denial. You just don't want to die."

"Isn't that how all living things react to imminent threat of their livelihood?" I replied, trying to back further away.

"Don't try and stop me, beast. I'm going to end you, whether you like it or not!" he shouted, lunging at me, bringing a knife to bear, aiming for my jugular.

The heat of battle is a curious thing. Time appears to slow down while at the same time it speeds up. I guess it's just the adrenaline rushing through the veins, but you get a better sense of what's going on around you. So, as this crazy scientist lunges at me, I'm already jumping backwards. I need to get this man under control, or I'll be one dead Psyduck.

Dodging his lunges, I managed to get in under his guard, headbutting him in the process.

"Don't make me hurt you!" I warned, pointing DI at him. The scientist looked back at me, pinching his nose - but grinning.

"But you already have," he replied, letting go of his nose, allowing blood to flow freely from it. He shifted the knife in his hand, and prepared to attack again.

"Alright," I said, dropping DI onto the floor, "You wanna tango? Then let's tango!"

At that, he launched himself at me while I moved my left hand to intercept the hand holding the knife. Grabbing his wrist with my left hand and shifting my right arm, I used our combined momentum to smash my elbow into his nose while disarming him of the blade. He reeled back, stunned from the blow.

"I'm giving you one last chance," I said, now gripping the knife in my left hand, "Give up. I do not want to hurt you more."

He fell to a knee, holding his nose with his right hand.

"Argh...I'll kill you..." he said, trying to stand.

"You'd think you would've done a better job by now," I replied, mocking him.

"Shut up," he retorted, managing to stand up - albeit a bit wobbly while doing so.

"I think I've done enough damage to you," I said, throwing the knife into a dark corner and turning away. "I suggest leaving or hide somewhere else."

"Bad move," he said. "Now you DIE!"

I heard a rush of footsteps and whirled around, only to see the scientist leaping at me. He collided and brought the pair of us to the floor, me roaring in pain.

"How does it feel, beast?" he breathed in my ear. "How does it feel to have a blade in your body?"

I was about to ask what blade, when I felt a sudden throb of pain in my side. Looking down, I could see blood flowing from under his fist - hiding, no doubt, another blade which I overlooked.

"Fuck you," I growled.

He laughed; a high, cold laugh. "I'm going to gut you alive!" At that, he withdrew the blade just enough to shove it in again.

I yelled in pain. "Get off of me!"

"Only when you're DEAD!" he shouted, punctuating each word with a stab.

I could feel it now. I'm bleeding out. I'm dying. I coughed up blood, a bad sign. This guy obviously won't stop until either one of us is dead. Each stab, bringing less and less pain. I need to live!

With a shout, I managed to shove him off of me. I clutched my stomach, now representing a bloody mess of meat. I reached behind my back to grab the pistol the scientist obviously didn't see with my right hand.

"Die, motherfucker," I said scathingly, pulling the trigger.

_**BANG!**_

The scientists' lifeless body dropped, knife falling to the ground, covered in my blood. I holstered my pistol and went to retrieve DI. I was stumbling around, vision swimming in and out of focus. I collapsed to the floor, right next to DI.

'_Lily...find me...'_ I thought; aiming at what I thought was the door.

* * *

Lily's POV

We had linked up with Seth and the others, and we had spent the past few hours setting up camp inside the ruined complex - it was better than nothing, and far better than sleeping outside. I was now roaming around the complex with Seth, trying to find Daemon.

"I couldn't keep track of everyone during the battle, and I lost Daemon's signature just before Arch unleashed his attack. Could you sense him?" I asked Seth.

"I got a general area of where he might be, but I don't know for sure," he replied.

"I hope we can find him soon," I said, worried.

"I agree. I just hope we ca- wait, what was that?" he said suddenly, ears twitching towards the sound.

"What? What did you hear?" I asked.

"I thought I heard a firearm being discharged, and it was over in this direction!" he replied, beginning to run in the direction he indicated.

"Hey, wait up!" I shouted, following.

We were only two minutes into our chase when I felt a sharp pang in my side. I stopped, breathless, leaning against the wall.

"Lily?" Seth asked, taking notice.

"It's - Daemon. He's hurt - AH!" I shouted, as I felt more pain being transferred to me. I clutched my side. "No, he's dying, I need to save him!" I groaned. I released my grip on my side and looked at my hand, expecting to see blood. Just then, I felt the pain stop, replaced by a dull throb instead. I looked up at Seth.

"We need to move, NOW!" I shouted as I ran off in the direction of Daemon's pain.

We were heading into an area of the complex that was partially caved in. I was starting to hear muffled explosions coming from nearby, and as I turned a corner, I saw dust puffing out of a collapsed doorway with each explosion - Daemon!

I moved closer, but Seth caught my arm. "Wait, Lily. He's using explosive rounds on the doorway. I don't think Daemon would want you to get hurt to save him - again."

I nodded, stepping back as Seth moved forward, charging a small Aura Sphere.

"You sure that will help break down the door?" I asked, unsure of the power behind the attack.

As an answer, Seth flicked the blue ball of Aura at the doorway and turned around, grinning.

_**BOOM**_

A sudden rush of dust ballooned into the hallway, and I had to use a bit of Psychic energy to create a barrier around me. As the dust began to settle, I saw that the doorway was no longer blocked and I rushed in, expecting the worst.

"Daemon? DAEMON!" I called out, probing the area with my mind.

"Uhnnn," a voice groaned in front of me. I gasped as I knelt down, feeling for something, _anything_ familiar to me. A hand reached out of the dust and grabbed my arm. I squeaked in surprise as a face followed it. Bloody-faced but recognizable, it was Daemon!

"Lily," he croaked. "I'm glad you found me..."

"I would never stop searching for you, you know that," I replied softly, trying to probe his body for injuries with my mind. He chuckled - which then turned into a cough, spitting out blood.

"Ah, damn. I need help, Lily. I'm hurt bad," he said softly. "I think I'm just going to pass out now..." he said, head dropping back onto the ground.

"Let's get him back to camp," Seth said, paw on my shoulder. I nodded, then teleported all three of us back.

I hadn't realized how badly he was hurt. Judging by the multiple stab wounds that I couldn't see earlier because of the blood, he was very close to death when we found him. I worried for several hours while Elaine, Seth and Sue tried their best to heal him. I knew I wasn't going to be much use because my feelings made me put too much power in whatever I was controlling - and my heat wouldn't help to that fact either.

I sighed. Despite the fact that Daemon sent me to daycares in order to curb my heat, I never really mated with any Pokemon - just some other females assisting each other. They understood the need to keep ones virginity for the one they love the most - and even a few that I met in some of the daycares had mated with their trainers. Until that point, I wasn't sure whether my feelings for Daemon were just that - feelings. Feelings brought on by my capture when I was little...

* * *

***Flashback***

I was walking through some woods, celebrating my last victory which was against the local gym leader when I heard a shout. Actually, it sounded like something was being chased. I looked around, trying to find the source, when a green/white blur shot out of the bushes right at me. I did the only thing I could think of, and that was to hold out my arms in an attempt to catch it. Right after doing so, it collided with me, bringing the pair of us tumbling to the ground. Immediately, it started squirming, trying to get out of my grip.

"Kir!" Ah, a Kirlia. Psychic-type, evolves from Ralts and into Gardevoir or Gallade if it was male and presented with a Dawn Stone. I shook myself out of the textbook reference.

"Hey!" I said, shaking the Kirlia a little. "I'm not going to hurt you. What's chasing you?"

In response, the Kirlia looked over its shoulder and pointed, signalling that whatever it was, it was bad for the Kirlia. The fear was literally radiating from it as I stood in front of it, ready to defend it.

Slowly, stealthily, two Mightyena came out of the brush, flanked by a Cacturne. Great, Dark-types. No wonder why the Kirlia was scared.

"What do you want with this Kirlia?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't get an answer that I could understand, but by the way the Mightyenas were licking their chops, it wasn't going to be a happy one.

I moved my right hand behind me, feeling the Kirlia's head rubbing against it. I squeezed it lightly, then moved my hand further, into the small of my back, where I always kept a combat knife handy just for situations like these.

"You're not getting your hands on this Kirlia," I said coldly, my mind going into a no-thought Zen state as I bent my knees, preparing for combat.

"Cact," the Cacturne said, motioning with one of its spiky arms. Immediately, both Mightyenas jumped at me, snarling. I backhanded one to deflect its trajectory and moved my right hand - now armed with my knife - into the base of the others neck. It howled in pain and jerked back; spouting blood from the wound I created. I knew I hit the jugular with that one simple thrust, and death would come quickly.

"KIR! LIA!" I heard behind me. Spinning around, I saw the other Mightyena had its jaws around the Kirlia's arm and was now attempting to tear it off. I sprung at it, blade glistening in the sunlight as I brought it down on the Mightyena's skill with a sickening _crack_.

I gently pried the jaws of the now-dead Mightyena open and removed the Kirlia's arm from its grip. The arm was bleeding slightly, and I turned around to get my first-aid kit when -

_Fweeee-shluck_

I grunted in pain, clutching my right shoulder. I looked at it and saw a thick spike protruding from it. Pin Missile. Luckily it wasn't poisonous; otherwise I might've died later on. But judging from the pain, it was sticking out of both sides of my shoulder. I'd definitely need to see a doctor when this is all done.

"Kir...?" the Kirlia asked, wondering what was going on.

_Fweee-thump_

Another spike struck the ground near the Kirlia, and it eeped, scooting behind me again. I knew that going up against a Cacturne at this distance would be suicidal. I turned back around, picked up the Kirlia, and ran. Personally, I didn't care where we ended up, so long as it was far away from that Cacturne.

"Kir! Lia!" the figure in my arms said, now spotting the object embedded in my shoulder. It was now attempting to project directions to somewhere, as if it was trying to say it was safer that way. I followed, taking note of the Cacturne's advances - I could hear it following us through the forest, every now and again a spike whizzing by me.

Now the Kirlia was trying to tell me we were close with its emotions when I felt another spike embed itself into my calf. Grunting, I continued on until I stumbled, bringing the pair of us crashing to the ground. As soon as we separated, the Kirlia vanished. I cursed under my breath. So I was only useful for guaranteeing its safety until it was near its home, then left me for dead.

I stood up, leaning against a wide tree, holding my combat blade, looking for the Cacturne. Just then, a spike whizzed right by my head to embed itself in the tree behind me. Appearing out of the shadows, the Cacturne showed itself, grinning. It knew I was out of gas, what with two spikes stuck in me. I, however, was not going down without a fight.

"I may be down, but I sure as hell ain't out!" I growled at the Cacturne. All it did was scoff before raising a spike-covered arm.

'_Aww, shit,'_ I thought. It fired. The momentum from the spike pinned me to the tree - embedded in my side, I couldn't move away. The Cacturne fired again. Another spike buried itself into my other side. Now the Cacturne was pinning my limbs to the tree, one after the other. I was ignoring the pain as best as I could, but I knew that if I didn't get any help, I was done for.

Now immobilized against the tree, the Cacturne moved closer, sneering. I saw a long spike extend from its arm as it drew it back. I gritted my teeth for the impending pain.

_Shluck_

I grunted. This Cacturne loves to torment its prey before eating it, apparently. It withdrew the spike and shoved it in again. I tasted blood. Three more times, the Cacturne stabbed me in the stomach before withdrawing.

'_Well, this sucks. I just won a badge and I'm about to be gutted by a wild Cacturne. Could this day get _any _better?'_ I thought. The Cacturne approached me, holding up the blood-stained spike. I had a feeling that this time, the spike would end me. I was already losing consciousness from blood loss.

Just then, a tall, green/white figure jumped down behind the Cacturne, and in one swift movement, beheaded it. As the body collapsed onto the forest floor, I could just make out a crest - a Gallade had saved me. That was my last coherent thought before I let unconsciousness sweep me away.

* * *

***Present***

I gasped, eyes snapping open, torso shooting up from a prone position. Pain gripped my stomach, so I fell back down onto a soft mattress.

"Hey, Lily! He's awake!" a voice called out. Where was I? How much time had passed? And where, where was my beautiful Gardevoir, my Lily?

As if summoned by my thoughts, Lily glided in, concern on her features.

'Daemon! I'm so glad you're up! I thought I was going to lose you - again...' she said, kneeling by my bedside.

"You should know me by now, Lily," I replied gruffly, "I'm not one to die easily."

She reached out to put a hand on my head. 'You've been dreaming of that day - so have I,' she muttered. Louder, she said, 'You need to rest more, Daemon. Your wounds haven't fully healed.'

"I could already tell that," I said chuckling. "But what about you? It looks like you haven't had any rest yourself!"

'Well, I have been worrying about you for the last day and a half...' she said. Just then, she tried to stifle a yawn.

"A day and a half? Lily, I'm not worth losing sleep over!" It was my turn to be concerned. She blushed as she rested her head on my chest.

'I'll just use you as my pillow as I sleep, then,' she said softly, not even bothering to stop her next yawn. She looked so cute when she did that - but yawns were contagious as I began to yawn as well.

"I didn't realise I taught you Yawn," I said, referring to the move. She giggled. "Come on, lay down with me. It's unfair for you to have to sleep kneeling while I have a comfy bed."

'Okay...' she said, blushing even more. I scooted over so she can have room to sleep.

'_It's been a long week,'_ I thought, drifting back off to sleep.

* * *

***Flashback***

"How could you bring a human here?" my father shouted at me.

"He saved me, so it was my turn to return the favour!" I yelled back.

"He didn't have to; you could've easily teleported away!"

"There were three Dark-types after me; I couldn't have known where they were before teleporting!"

'Hey!' my mother telepathically blasted in our heads, 'I'm having a hard enough time healing wounds caused by a Dark-type without you two bickering!'

My father grunted, then stormed out, most likely going to take out his frustration in the dojo. I walked into the room where the human was being healed by my mother.

As I walked in, my mother turned around, her face softening. "I'm not mad at you - I'm just exasperated at how you and your father keep going at it like a Zangoose and a Seviper." She sighed. "He's healed, but I don't think he'll be able to move for a couple of days."

"Dad won't approve of him staying, you know that," I said.

"I know. That's why I must ask you - are you willing to travel with this human to the nearest town?"

I was taken aback. Normally my own mother would be doing such a thing. Why me?

"Why me?" I asked aloud.

"Yes, normally _I_ would be doing such a thing. But this human only knows _you_, and might not be happy with me bringing him somewhere. After all, he _was_ attacked by three Dark-types. I'm surprised he even lived!"

"I - I can't decide now," I stuttered. This was too much for me to take in at one time. I needed to think.

"Very well," my mother said, smiling. "I suggest you stay with him, so that when he wakes up, he'll wake up to a familiar face."

All night, I stayed awake, pondering on whether to take this one human to the nearest town and leave him. I, myself, didn't know where this may lead me, and I didn't have the faintest clue where the nearest town _was_.

All of a sudden, a grunt startled me out of my cocoon of thought. Was he waking? I climbed up onto the bed, peering over his face, looking for signs of waking.

"Stop staring at my face," he mumbled. I eeped and fell off the bed. How did he know it was me? He groaned again, trying to sit up. I rushed back over and placed my hands on his chest.

"Wait! You're still hurt!" I said, trying to push him back down. Then I remembered; all he could probably hear was my species name. I huffed in disappointment.

"I don't think that Gallade wants me here, injured or not," he said, seeming to understand my gesture.

"If my father wasn't such a hothead..." I grumbled under my breath. The human chuckled.

"I take it you two fight a lot. I'd also say you were his mate or mate-to-be if it wasn't for the fact that I know a Gardevoir healed me. At any rate, I'd say you were his child," he surmised quickly.

My mouth hung open in disbelief. How had this human thought all that out in such a short amount of time? He flicked a finger up to close my mouth.

"Gawking isn't nice," he said jokingly. "By the tones of your mother, I'd say you were asked to accompany me to the nearest town. I have a counter-offer."

This, I had to hear. What could a human offer me?

"And that would be?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Join me in my journey around the Regions," he said. I felt my mouth drop open again. "I never met a Pokemon from the Ralts family line before, and I must say, you lot are quite nice. The offer is optional, of course.

"Your mouth is still open, by the way."

I shut my mouth, blushing.

"I accept your offer," I muttered.

"Sorry? Didn't quite catch that," he said, smiling.

"I accept your offer," I said louder.

"Pardon?" Now he was just riling me up. It was working, damn him.

'I said, I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER!' I shouted.

"Ow, didn't realise that telepathic minds could shout that loud," he said, wincing.

I blushed and turned away once I realised what he said. I said that...telepathically?

'You need practice, dear,' my mother projected to me. 'Nearly gave me a migraine with that outburst.'

I blushed harder.

'Take his offer, hun. Travelling around the four Regions should be interesting. I would love to go on that kind of trip.'

That, and I was starting to like him. I turned back to him.

'What's your name?' I asked.

"Daemon. My name is Daemon. And I hope that we can be really great friends."

The next day, we set out, and the rest is history.

* * *

***Present***

I yawned, smiling as I woke up. That day was the beginning of my life. I looked around, and didn't see Daemon. Where was he? Probing with my abilities, I could sense him walking around what we designated as the kitchen. Perhaps he was just hungry. As I sat up, I took a good look at myself. After a day and a half worrying my heart out about Daemon, I completely forgot that I was filthy - I needed to take a shower, badly.

I teleported to the bathroom, where I allowed my gown to float off of my body, exposing my pale, white skin. I stepped into the shower and turned it on. I sighed in content as the warm water flowed over me, taking the dirt with it. I grabbed the shampoo and lathered up my hair. After I rinsed that off, I grabbed the soap and began to work on my body. As I moved the soap around, I wondered, does Daemon like me the same way I like him? Will he accept me? Most importantly, will he _love_ me...?

My heat began to stir up again at that thought. "Oh, Daemon..." I moaned softly, massaging my breasts. As with most female Gardevoir, I have small breasts to go along with my petite frame. That only added to my worries. I've seen other female Pokemon and humans with breasts larger than my head and curvier frames than mine, and almost always have a crowd of males surrounding them. I wanted that kind of attention, but from Daemon, and Daemon only.

My heat surged again, and I moaned in response. I was moving my hands in places that I wanted Daemon to touch, to caress, to _love_. My right hand moved south while my left moved up to fondle my chest spike. I was now too far gone into my heat to know whether someone entered the room.

I squeaked in pleasure when I put my finger into my aching slit. I wondered what it would feel like to have Daemon _inside_ of me, to _feel_ him moving within me. That only heightened my sense of pleasure as the dual inputs from my spike and my nether regions worked their magic. I was getting close. I groaned, imagining Daemon taking me, making us one, having his seed pouring into me.

"Daemoooon!" I moaned loudly, finally reaching my climax. I panted, coming down from that high that comes with orgasm. It was only then that I looked around the bathroom. Nobody around...or so I thought.

* * *

My heart was thumping loudly against my chest. What did I just witness, and why did it turn me on so? Lily, my best friend for over ten years, was _masturbating_ to me? I shouldn't be so quick to judge her, though. I did have the odd wet dream about her every now and again, and it usually came in sync with her heats. But seeing her actually release herself in front of my eyes and not in a dream got me harder than I expected. I had to calm down. I did have feelings for her, I truly did, but I wasn't expecting her to like me in the same way. I guess this is what Sarge - John - meant by we need to come to terms with our relationship. I took a deep breath and walked into the doorway of the bathroom.

"Lily?" I called out. I got an "Eep!" in response.

'D-Daemon? I-I'm not dressed!' she called back.

'_It's as almost as though she knows I saw her...relieving herself...'_ I thought. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm quite dirty too, mind if we double up?" I asked nervously. I hope my hard-on will calm itself down if I have to strip down here.

'Umm...ok...but don't look, ok?'

"Sure," I replied. Here goes...

I walked in and stripped down to my birthday suit, and took another deep breath. I walked up to the shower and stepped in. The water was warm, not at all unpleasant, easing my stressed muscles, but strengthening one in particular - and it was getting harder with every drop of water hitting it.

'Daemon?' Lily asked quietly. I jumped, startled.

"Yes?"

'Do you mind...rubbing my back for me? I can't reach some parts...'

"Sure," I said, taking the soap. "Where do you want me to start?"

'Around my gem, please...' she replied softly. She looked as shy as I felt. We were both in the nude, in the shower, and both _very_ horny. And we knew it.

As I placed my hands on her back and began to rub, she cooed at the touch, arching her back a bit. I noticed her gem was somewhat dull in colour, so I began to clean that. But, as soon as my hands made contact, she gasped and moaned, arching even more into me. I stopped rubbing her gem, and she made a disappointed sound and turned her head towards me.

'Why'd you stop?'

"You want me to continue?"

'Yes, I want you to...'

I continued cleaning her back, and I could tell she was getting more excited by the minute. I moved to her shoulders in the hope that we could avoid what might happen if I stayed at her back. Thing was, I was getting more excited by the minute, too.

I began to massage Lily's shoulders, electing a sigh from her as she brought her own hands up to mine and leaned her head against her shoulder.

'Daemon?' she asked suddenly.

"Yes, Lily?" I replied.

'Please, rub my body...I don't think I did a good job cleaning it...' it was a poor lie, but I played along as I moved my hands down the front of her body, stopping above her breasts.

'No...touch them...' she moaned. I could tell her heat was getting the best of her. I moved my hands to hold her breasts and massage them. Before I knew it, my left hand had gone south and my right was fondling her chest spike. She was cooing and moaning and making other noises that only made me want her more as I moved my left hand down her stomach and beyond. As I reached her place she gasped.

"Do you want me to stop?" I breathed in her ear.

'If I wanted you to, I would have done it long ago,' she replied. That sealed it. I began to rub her spot, feeling her respond in body and in mind. As she grew slicker, my mind grew numb. I was now gently fingering her while still fondling her gem. I didn't care now that my front was touching her back - her skin was so soft.

I wanted her more than ever, and I could tell she wanted the same of me. But when I moved my body to position myself...

'No Daemon, not here,' she said. I stopped, and withdrew myself from her. She turned to face me.

'I know where we can be alone for this,' she said, eyes glowing. Before I knew it, we were in a bedroom, completely dry. That wouldn't last for long.

'I wanted you for so long, Daemon,' she whispered, embracing me.

"And I you," I whispered back, picking her up and moving for the bed.

* * *

I stretched as I moved towards the only available bathroom near our camp. My ears twitched as I picked up the sound of water. Was someone using it? As I approached the door, I picked up two familiar scents - Daemon and Lily - Lily being more prominent. I sniffed, trying to figure out what was going on, when I realised that both their Aura signatures were missing from the bathroom.

I approached the door, wary of what I might find. As I opened the door, Lily's scent washed over me, along with a musky smell. _Her heat,_ I thought instantly. I peered through the crack, and saw no blood. I opened the door wider, and noticed that her gown and Daemons' clothes were on the floor, but the bodies that they belonged to were nowhere to be found. It was then that I felt a pair of Auras in the area of what we designated as Lily's room.

"Oh boy," I muttered to myself, rubbing the back of my head.

* * *

We were now lying on the bed, appreciating each others' bodies, caressing one another.

'Daemon,' Lily asked.

"Mmm?" I replied, stroking her stomach.

'Do you...love me?'

"Why ask such a question?"

'I want to know.'

"Of course, my beautiful flower. But now, I ask of you: Do _you_ love _me_?"

'Always,' she replied, kissing me. I kissed back, allowing my hand to move further south once again. I made contact with her spot again, and she arched her back. We surfaced, and I withdrew my hand. I brought it up to eye view so we could see it, glistening with her nectar.

I brought it to my nose and inhaled. "Divine. Absolutely divine. I wonder how it tastes?" I said, sticking my tongue out to try.

'That's dirty of you,' Lily said, blushing.

"But it's turning you on," I replied, licking my hand slowly, keeping my eyes locked on hers. She kept on blushing as I licked my fingers clean.

"Time for the main event, I think," I said, bringing her close.

'I wouldn't have it any other way,' Lily replied. 'But...be gentle...'

"All those times I sent you to Daycares...?"

'I wanted to save myself for you - the females helped me through it all.'

"I'm glad you did - I was saving myself for someone special, too."

'Thank you, Daemon,' Lily whispered as I nibbled the nape of her neck, making her gasp.

I worked my way down her pale body, my lips making contact with various part of her body: chest gem, breasts, nipples, navel and around her flower.

I felt a sharp tap on my head. 'Don't tease me,' Lily moaned.

I grinned slyly as I took her pink pearl in my teeth, causing her to gasp and moan more.

"I wonder how you taste from the source..." I muttered breathily.

'No...Daemon...' Lily mewled, obviously overwhelmed by my actions.

As I stuck my tongue into her depths, she clenched her legs around my head, blocking out all sound. I knew she wanted me badly, but this was our first time, and I wanted it to be a memorable one. I lapped at her insides, searching for that one delicate spot within her depths. I could tell that I found it when her thighs clamped down harder on my head. I could only imagine what sexy sounds she was making from my actions, the thought process making my member twitch with anticipation.

Time and time again, I attacked her sweet spot with my tongue until I felt her legs slacken - she was getting close. I withdrew from her depths and went back to eye-level, allowing my left hand to continue my actions.

'Take me! Take me now!' she said breathlessly. Against her wishes, I continued fingering her.

'D-Daemon, I, I can't hold it...'

I felt her insides clench against my fingers, and I knew it was time. I quickly withdrew my fingers and positioned myself at her entrance.

"I love you, Lily," I said before thrusting into her, breaking her barrier at the same time she screamed out my name while orgasming.

As she was coming down from her climax, we locked eyes.

"Can you feel me? Can you feel me in you?" I asked softly.

'I can feel you, and I love it. Now make love to me,' she replied breathily.

Slowly, tenderly, I moved, taking my time to make her feel special, inside and out.

Minutes flew by, they took forever to pass. We were at the center of the universe, us two, connected as one. It was with regret that we didn't have enough stamina to last long.

"Lily..."

'I know, I'm close too...I want you to fill me with your love...'

Our motions sped up, our breaths shallow. All it took as a few more squeezes from her, then -

'Daemon!'

"Lily!"

We screamed each others' names to the stars, completely forgetting where we were as we climaxed together, as one.

After a few more minutes, I withdrew from her depths once again, allowing our love juices to flow from her.

'Thank you, Daemon,' she whispered in my ear.

"No, thank you, my beautiful flower," I replied. "Now how about we go finish off that shower before someone discovers that we're missing?"

Lily nodded, eyes glowing that shade of purple I fell in love with. Next thing we knew, we were standing in the shower, but quickly finding out that in our abscence, the shower had used up all the hot water.

"Arceus! That's fucking cold!" I gasped, shivering now.

'We better hurry up before we catch a cold,' Lily remarked.

I noticed that she had her back to me, lathering up again. I, however, just had an idea to warm us up...

I picked Lily up by the waist, electing a squeak from her.

'What are you doing?' she asked indignantly.

"A little something I wanted to do earlier," I growled in her ear, making her sigh. I was already hard once again as I lowered her onto my member.

'Ah...Daemon...not here...' she moaned as I began thrusting into her depths from behind, while allowing my left hand to fondle her pink pearl as my right worked on her chest area.

Within minutes, we had worked up a sweat again, feeling much warmer in a cold shower.

Minutes later, we emerged from the bathroom, tired and refreshed at the same time. I had made sure Lily had enjoyed the shower sex and we had climaxed together again before finding out how cold the shower could really get after heated activities.

"I knew you'd love it," I said, smiling.

'Luckily for us, nobody walked in,' Lily replied.

"I think we would've enjoyed it more if someone _was_ watching," I said with a chuckle.

Lily shoved her shoulder against me. 'No way! I rather have our love private, thank you.'

"Well, _that_ part of our love, at any rate," I replied.

'Yes, well, how about we get to bed?'

"Yeah, I'm beat. How about a quickie before sleeping, though?"

'We just made love twice in a row, and now you want to make it three? Maybe next time, stud.'

We laughed at that before Lily teleported us back to the bedroom.

A pair of red eyes watched Daemon and Lily as they talked before they disappeared into thin air.

"My little girl..."

* * *

Continued in Chapter Nine...

A/N: After days upon days of fighting, the group finally catches a break and takes advantage of the facility that was supposed to detonate and kill them all. But who was spying on the new lovers, Daemon and Lily? More to be revealed in the chapters to come...

- UBE Chief

P.S. Say hello to the longest chapter ever written by me: 7,500 words, nearly 20 pages of action and (sexy) romance. To be honest, I actually got stuck on the sex scenes, and that was why it took so long to get out.

Again, as usual, sorry for the delay, but I hope that all of this was totally worth the wait.


	9. Two Betrayals

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven

A/N: Terribly sorry I haven't put anything up in a long time - I just haven't had any ideas until recently.

Chapter Nine: Two Betrayals

* * *

I awoke slowly, remembering the best day of my life, the best night of my life. I opened my eyes, seeing my white flower lying next to me, still asleep, arms wrapped around me. I was sorely tempted to make love to her again, she looked so divine. Instead, I placed a kiss upon her forehead.

"Voiir~" she moaned, tightening her grip. I snuggled closer to her, my Lily, my flower. I planted another kiss, this time on her lips. As I pulled away, she moved her head to reconnect our mouths.

'Good morning, my love,' she whispered in that wonderful telepathic voice of hers, eyes still closed.

I deepened our kiss, wrapping my free arm around her, bringing her closer to me.

'Morning,' I thought back. 'I didn't want to disturb you...'

We surfaced from our kiss and she opened her eyes, a beautiful ruby red.

'You could never disturb me,' she murmured. 'I like seeing you when I wake.'

I smiled warmly at her - then my stomach growled.

"Aww, mood killer,' I muttered. Lily giggled as my stomach growled in response - just before hers followed suit.

"Guess we'd better grab something to eat," I sighed, sitting up. Lily sat up as well, allowing the bedsheets to slide off her pale body. We had slept in the nude, appreciating each other, inhaling the scents of our lovemaking until we fell asleep.

I got up to dress, throwing on a grey shirt and pulling on my black jeans while Lily watched.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" I asked her while I dressed.

'Who says I'm not?' she replied. I turned around, and sure enough, she was already clothed.

"No fair, you can just teleport them on," I complained.

She giggled. 'Well, there is a bonus to having my gown -' she stepped closer, '- and that's the fact that I'm not wearing anything else,' she whispered seductively in my ear.

I let a growl rumble in my throat. "Don't tempt me into taking you right now," I replied, "and I know you'd love it, too..."

She leaned closer and gave me a peck on the cheek. 'Not when someone's about to knock on the door, stud.'

Sure enough -

**BANG, BANG, BANG!**

"Lily, Daemon, time to get off each other, it's morning!" Seth shouted through the metal door.

"You don't think...?"

'Someone was bound to notice the empty washroom with our clothes in it...'

I sighed. "Well, might as well go and grab some breakfast..."

'I'll be right there...I just have to - urp!'

At that, she vanished. Perplexed, I merely shrugged and opened the door, coming face-to-face with Seth.

"Morning Seth. Uh, you haven't told anyone else, have you?"

"I haven't. Why, planning to let everyone else know yourself? And where's Lily?"

"No, I just have a feeling that with three Psychic-types, an Aura warrior and a few snips of gossip would be enough to spread it...and Lily poofed off to somewhere in a hurry," I replied.

Seth shrugged, and headed towards the cafeteria. I followed, trying to get a scent of what might be cooking.

* * *

Some time later, Lily decided to show up, appearing next to me at a table, startling me. She looked paler than usual.

"What's up, Lily? You don't look too well."

'I-I don't know. I just felt ill earlier and had to puke,' she replied softly, shivering a bit. I rubbed her shoulders to warm her up as she cuddled into my embrace.

A pink furball leapt up onto our table - Sue.

'What's this I hear about you feeling ill, Lily?' she inquired, cocking her head to a side.

"I'll be right back, I'll just get you something," I whispered into Lily's ear. She simply nodded in reply and began talking to Sue, blushing a bit.

As I got to the buffet-style table, I was greeted by John.

"So you two finally made your feelings known to each other," he said, reaching for an Aspear Berry. I grabbed a few Oran Berries, thinking that Lily might not be able to handle the sourness of the Sitrus Berry at this time.

"Yeah, we did," I replied.

"Lily doesn't look all that well. Erm, did you guys - you know..." he drifted off.

"Missing your own girl so badly you need stories of other guys doing it with theirs?" I replied, smirking a bit.

"No!" he replied, a little too quickly. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Erm, no. You see, I'm asking because my mate experienced a sick phase after she went into heat, and we, well, mated. A few days later, we had an egg."

"Congratulations," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Save it. What I had with my mate didn't last long - she was murdered, and our egg crushed by a marauding group of Scyther and Scizor. I never told my parents about it. They still think I have a family to go back to." His shoulders sagged, and I clapped my hand around him.

"What are you talking about? We _are_ your family now."

"Thanks, Daemon. That means a lot." I gave him a brotherly shake and we went our separate ways for the time being. I still had to give Lily her berries.

As I approached our table, both Lily and Sue looked up, happy smiles on their faces.

"Did I miss a good joke?" I asked, setting the Oran Berries in front of Lily.

'I - well, um...I'll tell you later,' Lily stammered, beaming.

I shrugged, and was about to take a bite out of one of the Oran Berries, when something created a racket just outside of the room. Everyone was on their feet instantly, weapons and special moves ready to fire. I did a quick head count. Good. Everyone was here, which meant that we could all be teleported if the shit hit the fan.

Everyone's gaze was locked on the door as it slowly opened. I, myself, tightened my grip on DI, already reaching for another magazine.

'Um, hello?' A voice called out. It sounded masculine. I motioned to Arc and John to take up positions by the rooms' double doors as I moved closer to them.

'Daemon, please be safe,' Lily called out behind me. I gave her a thumbs-up to acknowledge her.

"Open the door, slowly. Keeps your hands or any other appendages where we can see them."

The doors opened slowly, and stood before me was another Gallade. I had an itching suspicion that we've met before, a suspicion that was confirmed by a sharp gasp of recognition from Lily.

'DAD!' Lily called out, almost rushing past me before I stopped her with an outstretched arm.

"Anyone or anything with you?" I asked, keeping my eyes on and around the Gallade, looking for signs of movement.

'If you're asking if any of those hideous beings are with me, then no. I'm here all by myself. I've been wandering around for the past few weeks, looking for anyone who wasn't changed.'

I could tell, however, that he'd been searching for much longer, and for someone else. The bags under his eyes, a few healed scars and other tells told me that he was lying. I wouldn't confront him about it - not now, anyways. I locked eyes with Arc and John, and they emerged, looking over the new addition to our group, eyes focusing on the nearly black crest. I wondered what the colouration meant.

"Alright, you're clean," Arc admonished. "Now why aren't you speaking freely? Why use telepathy?"

'A promise to my mate. I promised her I wouldn't speak aloud until I had made amends with our daughter and her Trainer,' he replied, now locking eyes with me.

Those eyes...the same ruby red as Lily's. They held none of the warmth that she had when looking at me. I knew that we would be crossing blades sooner or later - hopefully not literally.

Those eyed kept a firm lock on mine for what seemed like forever, until I noticed Lily streaking past me in a blur to embrace her father. It was only then that our eye contact broke, and he gazed warmly upon his daughter, my lover.

'We have so much to catch up on! C'mon!' Lily said, and at that, the pair of them vanished into thin air.

"He's lying," Seth said immediately. "The colour of his Aura is in flux."

Arc nodded. "The extremely dark colouring of his crest suggests that he has been longing to inflict revenge, or some other pain upon another soul."

"It also suggests that he wanted to retrieve something that was once his, but had been taken from him," John added.

I said nothing, my suspicions now confirmed beyond a doubt. I had to keep an eye on him now. Instead, I asked, "How long do you think he's been longing for these things?"

"Close to a decade," Arc said. "If it was less than five years, his crest would be grey, or at least a greyish-blue."

Since Lily had decided to come with me on my Pokemon journey. I was now getting a bit worried, but pushed that to the back of my mind - for now.

"Well, considering we aren't under attack, let's finish eating!" Alex said, diving back into his large meal - or would have if his Snorlax hadn't already inhaled it.

"What the - HEY!" Alex shouted, glaring at his Pokemon.

"Snorrrr..." the 'Mon replied, already in a deep sleep. Alex pouted, getting up to head back to the serving table while the rest of us laughed.

* * *

Later that day, we were packing up. All of us had agreed that we couldn't risk another night or two in the compromised complex. We had already spent three days recovering from injuries, and didn't know if there was going to be a surge of infected or if the complex was going to explode, like the message from the GOA promised. Either way, we were moving out.

I had already packed my supplies into a duffel bag and stuffed it into the back compartment of one LRV. We were going to be taking two vehicles under the cover of darkness to the coordinates given to us from the GOA's message. From the information given to us by the LRV's GPS', it would be a few days' ride, non-stop.

The LRV's were well-equipped. Each vehicle had a turret on the top that could rotate 360 degrees and sported dual .50 caliber heavy machine guns, separated by a thick metal shield. Arc and John would be manning them, although anyone could operate them in a pinch. It was the same for any weapon - safe and live. Flick the safety off, squeeze the trigger, and watch as dual HMG's tear into any opposing force.

The others were still going back and forth between the vehicles and their quarters, so I went off in search of Lily. I didn't have to look hard, for when I opened our bedroom, she was there, still talking with her father. Both of them looked up at the sound of hinges creaking.

'Oh, Daemon, I was just about to tell my dad the news about us!'

"Really? Well I guess I arrived at the right time. But first, I have to let you two know that we're getting ready to move out."

'We're leaving? Why?'

"It was a unanimous decision to leave. We can't stay in a damaged building, Lily."

I saw the understanding in her eyes, but I knew why she wanted to stay - the memories of our first love session rested in this complex.

'I understand,' she said aloud. 'But, at least I have some great news, father - I have a mate!'

He looked at his daughter, eyes wide with happiness. 'You've found a Gallade? Is it one of the two that I met earlier? Or have you gone with something a bit more cuddly - the Lucario, perhaps?'

'No, father, I've gone with someone I've loved for several years,' she replied, giggling. The shine in her fathers' eyes went out, instantly knowing who she meant, and glared at me.

'He forced himself upon you, didn't he?' He asked, all accusation. I bristled with rage - he thought that I would rape her? My beautiful Lily? As I opened my mouth to put him in his place, Lily intervened.

'Father! Daemon would never do such a thing! How could you even suggest something like that?'

"I think it's because you went with me without his consent," I said without thinking. I had no doubt in my mind that was the reason.

'Yes, that is the reason. I feared you had forced her into going with you, made her think she was loved...possibly even forced yourself upon her when she wasn't fully evolved...'

It took everything in my power to not knock him flat on his ass for even suggesting the notion. I took a few deep breaths to try and calm myself before saying, "Guess I didn't live up to your expectations. Lily, if you need me, I'll be helping the rest of the guys pack their stuff into the trucks." At that, I left the room, slamming the metal door behind me. I needed to walk this off before I did something I knew I would regret.

* * *

I was walking towards Lily's bedroom, looking for Daemon. I knew I could've asked one of the other guys to help me out, but they were all doing their own thing, and I didn't want to be a bother and Daemon had already finished packing his stuff. I rapped on the door and was greeted by a telepathic 'Come in!'

As I opened the door, I quickly noticed that Daemon wasn't in the room.

'Hi Alex, how can I help you?' Lily asked. She was still talking to the new Gallade - apparently he was her father. Something told me that he wasn't trustworthy - besides the fact that everyone called him a lier after he went to catch up with Lily.

"I was just looking for Daemon," I replied, noticing the stare the Gallade was giving me. Those eyes gave me goosebumps - they weren't kind like John or Seth, and even less so than Lily's.

'Actually, you just missed him,' she said, looking a bit downcast. 'He said that he was going to help the rest of you guys pack up for the trip.'

"That's odd, I didn't see him on my way here..."

'He must be taking the long way...there was a - a disagreement between him and my father,' she said, taking a quick glance at him.

"I'll go look for him - nobody should be wandering alone, even if he's fully capable of protecting himself."

'Thank you Alex - take care of yourself,' Lily replied, looking a bit more relieved. I headed down an adjacent hallway, trying to think of the most likely way Daemon had headed - and why those two had gotten into a "disagreement". Something told me it wasn't as simple as that.

I spent a good twenty-odd minutes wandering around, looking for Daemon, when I decided he must have gone back to the motorpool. I was just turning back when I heard footsteps.

"Hello? Daemon?" I called out.

Instead of a reply, I saw a Gallade - the same one Lily was talking to, coming out of the shadows.

"You're not Daemon," I said stupidly.

'No,' he replied, 'but you're going to help me get my revenge on him.'

Before I could refuse, he leapt at me, arm outstretched. All I saw was a blur of his arm backhanding me, then the numb depths of unconsciousness.

* * *

I paced around the vehicles. It was getting late, and nobody had seen Alex. We couldn't assume the worst yet - but if he was taking his time bringing something, then he was cutting it ridiculously close. I growled audibly, showing my irritation at the matter, when my Trainer put her hand on my shoulder.

"Relax, Seth," Elaine said, smiling nervously.

I sighed. She was right. I wasn't helping the situation by being upset about it. But we were running out of time. Who knew when those beasts would come back for Round Two, or, worse, the complex would detonate under our feet, us none the wiser until we stared Death in the face. But nonetheless, I took a deep breath and refocused my Aura. I looked at my Trainer and nodded, taking a seat and crossing my legs. I would meditate until this matter was resolved. Unfortunately, Archaeon didn't have as much restraint as the rest of us.

"Dammit!" he shouted, bringing a fist down on the hood of a nearby pickup, denting it. "How much longer is that kid going to take? We can't stay here much longer!"

"We'll stay here as long as we have to - we leave no-one behind," Daemon replied.

Daemon, our pseudo leader, may have the best intentions at heart, but I had to agree with Archaeon. I, however, would not bring myself into the argument.

"I'll give the kid half an hour - then we leave!" Archaeon spat back, his anger now taking over much of his Aura, tinting it black.

"And I said we'll wait as long as we have to!" Daemon shouted back, now standing up. "We leave no person or Pokemon behind, you hear me? I don't care how you handled troops while you were "working" for the military, but I'm not having this bullshit, clear?"

"Who the fuck made you leader, huh?"

"I never asked for this position!"

"Then give it to someone who _did_ ask for it!"

'HEY! Cool it, or I'm going to have to put you two in Psychic stasis for the entire ride, got it?' Sue blasted in our heads, making all of us wince.

"You don't have the skill or power to do that," Archaeon said, scoffing at her.

'Want to be the first test subject, then?' Sue asked sweetly. I sensed a deeper power within her, and suspected she may not be who she claims to be. I, personally, would not want to test her limits.

Huffing, Archaeon turned his back on her, muttering under his breath. Daemon looked more stressed about this confrontation than necessary, and he even had his shotgun out and a hand on the charging handle. Lily floated to him, tugging at his arm, telling him to relax and to go and sit with her. I guess after mating, Daemon wanted to keep Lily as safe and happy as possible, so he ran his hand through his hair and followed her to the other truck we were to leave in.

* * *

I was just getting a good flow of Aura going through my body when I felt a disturbance - a significant one if I managed to detect it through meditation. I singled it out and identified it as Lily's father. Where was he during all this time? I opened my eyes, breaking my meditative state and looked to the doorway. Everyone else took notice and aimed at the doorway. As he walked in, I narrowed my eyes. His Aura was not in flux anymore. He is now resigned to his fate, whatever it may be - but he must know it will not be a good ending for him.

"Where were you? Explain yourself!" Archaeon demanded, patience wasted on Alex's disappearance.

Almost as though we knew who we were worrying about, he replied, 'I was walking around, trying to find the washroom, when I found Alex, unconscious on the floor - I think he was attacked by someone or something. I don't know for sure if he's infected or not, but I didn't want to end up killing someone who wasn't.'

Almost immediately, Daemon sprang up and said, "Lead the way."

As my Trainer was the local nurse, and I her bodyguard, we followed them. Lily followed close behind as John and Archaeon played the role as rear guard. Sue was left to watch over our things. She clearly didn't mind, but privately told me (via telepathy, of course) that she was worried for Daemon and Lily.

We were lead through many hallways, getting further and further away from the motorpool that I sincerely thought that this Gallade was leading all of us into an ambush and away from a quick escape.

'He's just around this corner,' he finally said, rounding another bend. At the end of this hallway, we could see a figure on the floor - Alex. My Trainer rushed to help him, but I held her back. Who knows what could be on the other end of the hallway. The Gallade and Daemon walked up to Alex, clearing the intersection, while Archaeon and John covered our backs. Lily hung back with me and Elaine, worried.

Daemon motioned us to come closer - it was safe. We moved closer, still wary. As we approached within a dozen meters, Alex began to stir. I held back Elaine and Lily, while Daemon covered Alex with his weapon. I noticed that the Gallade had his back turned to Daemon, as though keeping watch over his side of the intersection, but extending his right blade - an unnecessary precaution.

"Alex! Can you hear me? Are you ok? Are you still clean?" Daemon inquired.

"Ugh, yeah...just a nasty bump on my head," he replied, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Listen, Daemon, I gotta tell you something -"

"Save it for when we're on the move - we're as late as it is. Now, who did this to you?" Daemon said, grasping Alex's arm and helping him up.

"That's what I'm tryin to tell you! It was -"

He never got to finish his sentence, as blood spattered his face, cutting him off. It took me a second to realise where the blood had come from, before I realised that the Gallade had shoved his blade into Daemon's back and clean out through the front of his chest. I heard screaming coming from beside me - Lily calling out Daemon's name in horror.

* * *

I was in shock. I had no idea what had just happened, or as to why my front was steadily getting warmer and wetter, until I looked down at myself. A bloody green appendage was sticking out of my chest - and then I knew. I tried taking a breath, but ended up coughing, spitting out blood.

I felt someone's breath on my neck. "You may not have raped my daughter, but you still ripped her out of my life - and for that, you must die."

The blade pushed through me some more, before making its way up, breaking bone and severing organs. I coughed some more, blood now flowing steadily out of my mouth and the gaping wound in my torso.

"But you saved my life, all those years ago," I gasped, vision swimming in and out of focus.

"I now rescind my actions," he replied coldly. He pushed in the blade one last time before removing it from my body. Turns out his blade was the only thing holding me up, for I collapsed onto my knees.

"Coward," I managed to spit out. "You're nothing but a coward."

"Oh shut up and die already."

I could hear Lily screaming out my name, but I couldn't respond. My body felt heavy and cold.

_This is how a dead man feels._

I couldn't let this Gallade from simply walking away, though. I will have my revenge on him before I die.

* * *

I was now holding Lily back from running over to Daemon - she knew she couldn't do anything for him anymore, and yet...

'Daemon! Daemon, please get up! Please..." She was beside herself, tears splashing down her face, sobbing until she was unintelligible.

"How could you? How _could_ you?" Elaine said angrily.

"It was all too easy," he replied aloud, no longer using telepathy. We could now hear the hatred in his voice. "He took my daughter from me nearly a decade ago, and so I killed him."

"You bastard! That's no reason to kill him! I-I'll kill you!" Alex shouted, running up behind the Gallade, Daemon's shotgun in his hands. The Gallade simply side-stepped and tripped Alex, sending him skidding towards us.

"Pathetic. None of you can do anything to me. Now, Lily, come with me."

'No.'

"Pardon me?"

'I said no, you heartless bastard!'

"How dare you talk to me like that!"

'I _wanted_ to leave with him! Mother even encouraged me to go with him! What would she say if she knew what you did?'

"Your mother - my mate...she was killed - the infection had gotten to her...I had to kill her..."

This set Lily back a bit - but I knew she wasn't done with him.

'Still! You shouldn't have killed him! N-now our child w-will be fatherless...'

"Come again?" I asked. I knew that Lily had been in heat when she and Daemon coupled, but I didn't know that she could get an egg from human seed.

'H-he's the father...of our unborn child...I-I'm pregnant with an egg...'

"So then you're tainted with his seed. I will not accept you back...unless you get rid of that egg."

Lily was shocked. 'Never! I would rather _die_ than take my child's life!'

"So be it. You will die with the rest of these cretins, and I will go off in search of another mate. Maybe my next child won't be as much of a disappointment as you."

"If you're going to kill us, might I make a final request?" John asked.

"What is it?"

"At least try to kill us properly - you seem to have done a half-assed job with your last attempt."

"What-?"

A gunshot rang out, and half of the Gallade's face was blown away. As the body collapsed onto the ground, we could see Daemon holding up his heavy pistol with one hand from his kneeling position.

"Ass-**hole**," he gasped, before falling backwards into a pool of his own blood. Instantly, we all rushed to him, Lily being the first to reach him.

'Daemon! Oh Arceus, Daemon...don't leave me, please!'

"Sorry, Lily, I didn't hear what you said earlier. Could you repeat it for me?" he said weakly.

Lily nodded, tears streaming down her face. 'I have an egg,' she whispered, smiling sadly. 'And you're the father.'

"I am? Well, damn, you sure don't look it," he chuckled weakly.

'So you can't die on me, Daemon,' she said, 'you can't leave our child fatherless.'

"Sorry Lily, but there's no way I'm going to survive this time. But I'm not going to leave our kid without a father figure." He looked at John. "John, you told me about what happened to your family. A father without a family to take care of."

"No, I can't. That's your job," John said, placing a hand on Daemon's shoulder.

"You have to. For my family. For _our_ family."

John nodded. "Alright. I will. I promise you that I'll take care of them."

"Good. Now I don't want any of you to be here, watching me die. I still have this," he lifted the heavy pistol slightly, "and a whole lifetime of memories to sift through before I meet Death."

John took a hold of Lily's shoulders. "C'mon, we gotta go."

'I love you,' Lily said quietly, placing one final kiss on Daemon's head.

"And I you, my beautiful white flower. Now go. I don't want you here for my final act."

We said our final goodbyes and left him, pistol in hand and a resigned look on his face. We had turned the corner and walked halfway down the next hallway when we heard one, final gunshot echo through the hall. It was then that Lily broke down into tears. John and Archaeon both looked at each other, eyes glowing, before we all teleported away to the motorpool.

* * *

A few minutes later, we were driving out towards a forest, maybe fifteen, twenty kilometers away from the complex when we felt the ground vibrate. I was just about to suggest that we were under attack when the sound of the explosion hit us. The vehicles stopped and we all craned our necks to look back at the complex. All that remained was a mushroom cloud of dust and debris. From the next vehicle, I could hear fresh sobs from Lily and the consoling telepathic voice of Sue. We had lost a friend and leader today, and I wanted to remember this day for the rest of my life.

Continued in Chapter Ten...

* * *

A/N: There's another chapter done. I wanted something dramatic to happen, and thought of this. I hope you guys don't hate me for what I did. It will get better, I promise. Remember to R&R.

- Chief


	10. The Morning After

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven

A/N: It seems like nobody had read Chapter Nine :( Was it because I released it so quickly after Eight that I only got one review?

Chapter Ten: The Morning After

* * *

I awoke slowly, stretching in the confined space. I snuggled closer to a body that felt kind and caring in my mind.

"Mmm...morning, Daemon..." I murmured, still half-asleep.

"Sorry Lily, but I'm not him," a voice replied sadly.

Last night's events shot through my mind as I opened my eyes, looking up into the face of John.

Tears welled up again as I stuttered, "S-sorry, I didn't mean..." I sat up and looked out the window of the truck, holding my knees to my chest, tears falling down my face. It hurt, not having him with me.

"Lily, I -" John started, lost for words. "I know how it feels to lose loved ones. I may have only told Daemon, but I might as well tell you, too."

I might have sounded cold and rude when I replied, "How can you know? Your family is still around!"

He sighed. "My parents, yes, but not my mate...or my unborn child."

"John, I-I didn't realise..."

"Daemon didn't either. But then again, neither you or him had lost anything, yet."

* * *

"It was less than a week since I had coupled with my mate while she was in heat. She had an egg, and we were both happy as can be.

"It was not to be, however. There was a group of marauding Bug-type Pokemon, mainly Scyther and Scizor. They terrorized the small community we had resided in almost daily. As Psychic-types, neither of us could do much against them, and they knew it. And so, one night, they struck.

"They struck in the dead of night, surprising the both of us with their brazen act. It took half a dozen of their best to restrain me as they took my mate and our egg. I watched in horror as one of the Scyther took its blade and sliced my mate in two, horizontally. As if that weren't enough, the leader - a large Scizor - ripped out her gem from her still-dying body, as a trophy.

* * *

"Crushing our egg seemed like an afterthought, but as I look back now, I could see that those punks, those _monsters_ actually did it to cause me pain."

"What happened after?" I asked, horrified and riveted by the story.

John looked me in the eyes, all the kindness and sparkle gone from his. "They never got the chance to leave."

* * *

"As they began to file out, they made the grave mistake of not killing me, and the even more grave mistake of letting me go. With an unparalleled speed that even surprised me, I murdered the whole lot of them, quickly, painfully.

"The leader I took my time with. It turned out the Scyther that bisected my mate was _his_ mate. I did the same thing with her as she did mine. I let her bleed out, while her mate watched.

"The leader begged, pleaded for mercy. I was ignorant to his pleas as I dissected him, making him feel how I felt that my family was now gone. When all that was left was his torso and head, I asked him one question:

'Was it worth it?'

I didn't let him answer, as I crushed his thorax before beheading him. It was the saddest day of my life."

* * *

"Oh, John..." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"At least, for you, the worst is over. You're free to mourn for as long as you want. I only stopped mourning very recently, myself."

"Since when?"

He smiled. "Since Daemon told me that I was a part of a family still. This group, I now see, is a family to me. And I still have an even closer family than that, now."

I tilted my head, curious.

"You forgot already? Daemon told me to take care of you and your child. I see this as an opportunity to set my mind, and the souls of my family, to rest."

Daemon, my mate, my lover, always thinking of others rather than himself. I wiped a tear away as I cracked a small grin, despite myself.

"As I am a father without a family, and you a soon-to-be mother without her mate, I see no reason why we shouldn't share our pain, together, as a new family," John said, a new twinkle in his eyes.

"Thank you John," I said, smile fading away, "but I hope you won't take offence when I say that I want to mourn just a little bit longer. It just seems too soon to be moving away from this pain."

"I understand Lily. Take all the time you need - the rest of us will be here if you need a shoulder to cry on, remember that."

* * *

It was my turn on the wheel, and I must say, it was definitely a new experience for me. After all, I only have paws to work the controls - thank Arceus that the transmission was automatic. Archaeon had told me that all I had to do was follow the arrow's direction, as shown on a little screen on the dashboard. A GPS, I think he called it, standing for Global Positioning System. Elaine thought it might be a good idea for me to get some practice in, while the route was still smooth and we weren't being attacked. She, of course, was my co-driver, and she was trying her best to not constantly give me pointers - it was making me nervous.

"You need to keep your hands - well paws - at the "10 and 2" positions for the best possible driving," she kept reminding me.

"You know I can't do that properly _because_ I have paws," was my constant reply to that.

It went on like this for some time until Alex decided to rescue me.

"C'mon Elaine, give the guy a break - I mean, this is new to him," he told her.

"Right, sorry, Seth."

"It's fine."

Alex seemed more subdued than the rest of us - possibly on par with Lily. It seemed as though he thought it was his fault that Daemon died. But, in his defence, he was trying to tell him - and us, by association - who the traitor was. Unfortunately, none of us could have prevented the events that unfolded that night...

_"But that's what I'm tryin to tell you! It was -"_

_'DAEMON!'_

I shook myself out of the flashback, just in time to swerve around a stump.

"HEY! Watch the road, willya?" Archaeon shouted from the turret.

"Sorry," I called back, still a bit shaken.

"Um, Seth, do you want me to take over?" Elaine asked, noticing my expression. She, too, was thinking about the night before.

"Thanks, but I think I can handle myself until the next switch."

She nodded, deciding to not say anything for now.

* * *

That night, we had decided to set up a small camp between the two parked trucks. Half of us would sleep - I would be meditating, of course - and the other half would keep watch, two on the turrets at all times.

My Trainer had opted to sleep first, sitting on my lap and curling into a ball.

"I hope you don't mind, Seth, but it is a bit chilly," she had muttered sleepily.

I didn't mind, and told her so. Even though I wasn't alone, it got pretty lonely during meditation, if that makes any sense.

Lily was huddled in a corner, not sleeping, her open eyes reflecting the scene. It was hardest for her to move on - she had known Daemon longer than the rest of us combined. What was worse was the fact that her own father had caused Daemons' death. A tale of two betrayals, as it were.

Alex was patrolling around the vehicles and our camp, trying to make up for his part in Daemons' demise. It was almost as if he was trying to take up the torch that Daemon had dropped. Someone had to talk to the kid, even if only to let him know it wasn't his fault.

Sue was curled up by Lily, offering silent condolences just by being there. I knew, however, that she was multi-tasking: aside from keeping tabs on all of us, she was our early-warning system.

We had to move on, both mentally and physically. We still had a job ahead of us, and I know Daemon would push us to conquer this, all of this. With that in mind, I began meditating.

* * *

I watched as everyone else around me fell asleep. I couldn't, not without Daemon. I don't even know how I fell asleep in the truck earlier...

'Lily,' Sue said beside me. I jumped, startled.

'Lily, relax. Brooding about him won't bring him back, you know that.'

"But...I can't stop thinking about him...what we could've been..." I stifled a yawn. How could I be thinking of sleep when my love was gone? Hot tears sprang up, and I wiped them away.

'Lily, you need to sleep.'

"I can't."

'Lily...'

"What?"

'Look at me.'

I looked at Sue, and saw her eyes were a dark blue-purple.

"You _so_ did not just..." Damn. Hypnosis.

* * *

I woke up sometime later, noticing I was all by myself. Where had everyone gone? Even the trucks were missing, and this certainly didn't look like the area we had set up camp. I gasped. Had I been kidnapped?

"H-hello?" I called out nervously. The only reply was the whisper of the wind.

"Sue? John? Seth? ANYONE?"

Silence.

I shivered. I was alone. Just me...and my egg. I looked down at myself, only to turn away in horror and puke.

Someone - or something - had cut out my egg and crushed it within me! No way was this real! I want out of this nightmare!

"Someone, anyone, DAEMON! Daemon, please help me!"

_"Lily!"_

"D-Daemon?"

_"Lily, wake up! It's just a dream! Wake up!"_

I felt a slap across my face. I gasped as I surfaced, looking into Seth's face. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

"Lily, are you with us? What's wrong?"

I couldn't stop the hot tears from flowing as I embraced him. I couldn't form words as I bawled.

"Shh, shh. It's ok, we're here, you're safe, shh..."

* * *

Aside from last night's scene with Lily's nightmare, it was peaceful - for once. Seth had moved her into one of the Humvees so she could get a better sleep. I was on turret duty with my father, but right now he had left to relieve himself. Dawn was only breaking, when there was some sort of commotion in the other truck. Curious, I leapt down from my post and walked over.

"Hey, Elaine, what's up over there?"

"Nothing I can't handle!" came the reply.

As I went around to the back end of the truck, I saw that one of the doors was open. Elaine and Seth were huddled around it, talking to Lily.

"Alright Lily, now just breathe," Elaine was saying.

"You shouldn't be looking, Seth!" Lily screeched as Seth got blown back by some invisible force. I ducked his airborne body as I edged closer.

"Uh, Elaine? What's up with her?" I muttered.

"Nothing too serious, she just woke up with abdominal pains, an egg ready to pop out, and a horrible temper to boot," she muttered back.

"I heard that! And who're you talking to?" Lily shouted.

I peeked my head around the doorframe; saw a pair of legs, the crown of an egg, and one _very_ pissed-off Gardevoir behind all that.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, JOHN!"

"OSHI-!" was all I got to say before she blew me backwards and over the opposite Humvee with her powers.

_Whumph_

"Ow..." I muttered, rubbing the back of my head.

"Nice of you to drop in," Seth said.

"Note to self, do _not_ try and speak with a Gardevoir laying an egg."

"Or any Psychic-type, for that matter - and shouldn't you have already learned that with your mate?"

"I wasn't there when she laid our egg - the other females prohibited the males from visiting during laying."

"Now we know why," Seth chuckled.

I chuckled as well. "Well, we better go tell the rest of the gang, unless they wanna end up like us."

"Be funny to watch, though."

I agreed, laughing.

* * *

Hours later, we were back on the road, Lily having apologized profusely at her actions, cradling her new egg in her arms. I had forgotten what an egg from our species looked like, it's been so long. In all honesty, it looked like the head of a Ralts, minus the protruding horns.

"So what are you going to name your child, Lily?" I asked over my shoulder - I was driving.

"I haven't thought about it much," she replied. "I was thinking about naming it after Daemon, if it was a boy."

'What about if it was a girl?' Sue asked.

"Like I said, I haven't thought about it much," Lily said, blushing a little bit. "Why do you all want to know, anyways?"

Sue tilted her head in thought, tail swishing around the egg.

'Never hurts to be prepared,' she said finally, curling up in Lily's lap.

The radio crackled. _"Eyes up front, guys. I think I can see a large building ahead - and we got company!"_ My father's voice reported.

I grabbed the mic. "Good or bad company?"

_"Bad, then good...I hope," _the voice crackled back.

"Talking about being prepared..." I muttered to myself. "Alex! You awake back there?" I said louder.

"Yeah," he replied quietly.

"Hop on that turret and get ready to kill some infected bastards! Make Daemon proud!"

I swear I saw him grin as he mounted the hot seat and flicked the safeties off. A quick glance to my right showed me that my father had already traded seats with Elaine, who was doing turret duty earlier.

I began to grin myself. I floored the gas and heard the engine roar in response.

"Let's go kick some ass."

The LRV's flew across the ground, covering the distance between us and the building quickly. Soon enough, the sounds of battle reached our ears before they were deafened by the heavy-caliber MG's on the roofs of the vehicles. The steady, but rapid _thud-thud-thud_ of the guns brought me a sick kind of pleasure as I watched the gruesome infected beasts get torn apart with each striking round. Even more pleasurable was the sound of many heavy _thuds_ caused by bodies getting bowled over and crushed underneath the Humvees.

When we finally reached the front gates, I pulled on the E-brake to swing the heavy frame of the vehicle around and got out, my XM29 barking at the infected beings while the 50-cal's boomed over my head. It took a few minutes while we helped the troops behind us clear out the infected, but when it was all over, I was fairly satisfied. As I was patrolling, giving final dead checks to the surviving monsters, I heard a shout behind me.

"Hey, you! In the Humvees! Come out with your hands and paws up! No moves otherwise!"

I growled and turned around, my rifle still in my hands.

"Weapons down too! I said PUT IT DOWN!"

Instead, I clutched my weapon closer right before I felt a sharp sting on my thigh. I growled again, right before fifty-thousand volts of electricity zapped me and brought me to my knees. A simple tazer couldn't do much to a fully-evolved Pokemon such as myself - it was like getting hit with a Pichu's Thunder Wave; painful, but not very effective. I growled yet again and moved to stand up, but felt the cold barrel of a handgun press against the back of my skull.

"Stand down, or I will be forced to make you," came the cold voice.

"Fuck you," I replied. "We just helped you guys wipe out a huge group of infected, and this is how you repay us?"

At that, I received a sharp rap from the butt of the pistol. "A backtalker, eh? We'll see to it that you get some 'special' treatment during your interrogation." I heard a few shouts of pain and surprise as everyone else was forcefully dragged and tazered to be brought up next to me. Lily was begging the soldiers to not harm her or the egg as she co-operated with slight hesitation from seeing the rest of us.

"…Do what you want to me, but don't harm the Gardevoir or her egg," I said softly, hatred flowing through my voice.

"She's your mate, huh?" Wrong guess, but I didn't correct him. "Don't worry, we'll let our medical team take good care of her." I could practically feel the sarcasm dripping down my back from his words.

"You damn well better, or I'll-"

"Do what? You can't do anything."

"Watch me!" I shouted as I stood up quickly, only to hear a _thwip_, feel a sharp sting at the back of my head, and hear more _thwips_ as tranquilizer guns fired, bringing the rest of us to a blank state of unconsciousness.

Continued in Chapter Eleven…

* * *

A/N: John and the gang have been captured! Can they ever complete their mission? We'll find out next chapter…

- Chief

P.S. Writer's Block. Hate it with a passion.


	11. In Custody

The Virus

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven

Chapter Eleven: In Custody

A/N: Derp, I totally forgot I had this chapter ready to go...for the past few months. I've been very busy. This chapter has been up for those said months on another website, so forgive me for not putting this up earlier! This is more of just a filler, and I havent gotten to work on the one after this. Like at all. So I hope you guys will enjoy this and the rest of the fic for a while! ^^;

* * *

_Lily_

That voice...it couldn't be...

_Wake up, Lily_

Daemon?!

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Stay away from it!" a voice shouted out. Who was he talking to?

"Don't you understand?!" _chick-chack_"I said, stay awa-grack!" The voice was cut off and replaced with several choking and gasping sounds, slowly fading away until-

"Black, that's enough, stand down." Another voice, more seasoned and gravelly, ordered whoever was choking the other man. It seemed as though this Black...wait, Black...Daemon's last name was Black...it couldn't be him, could it?

I cracked open my eyes and was nearly blinded by the overhead lights and moaned in discomfort and I shut my eyes. Something then covered the lights and I opened my eyes again, to look up into a gunmetal-grey visor, accompanied by a black helmet. I sighed in disappointment. So this was Black. Nothing more than a codename.

As I opened my eyes further, I could see that this Black was clad in full body armour, all black with some red highlights. His chestpiece seemed slightly larger than necessary, and I wondered why. He waved a gloved hand over my head, as though to confirm I was awake. I groaned in response, and tried to bat the hand away, but was met with slight resistance as a silvery glimmer appeared where I touched. A shield. Human technology has certainly advanced by leaps and bounds...well, their military technology, at any rate.

Black seemed satisfied and withdrew to look at someone else in the room. He nodded and walked away, but I didn't hear a door open, so I assumed he was still in the room. An older gentleman, wearing a dress uniform next appeared in my view, but his stare was anything but friendly. He wanted answers, and he would do anything to get them.

"Now, Lily, was it? Your friends have told me the exact same thing; that they saw a message from me in a nearby military bunker, to come here and get the cure for the infection. However, I instructed every bunker to detonate exactly forty-eight hours from receiving that message. It has been well over seventy-two hours since I sent that message. _How are all of you still alive?_"

I tried to remember...I was still groggy from the tranquilizer...my egg! Where was my egg?! I shot up from my prone position on the bed and saw that the room had a few guards, and they all had their guns pointed at me. Before I could react, Black seemed to slide over with a carbine, with his back to me - as though protecting me. Strange.

"Everyone, stand down, that is an order! We don't need a gunfight right now, do you understand me?"

Black seemed to ignore the command, as though waiting for the guards to stand down first. They did, and Black shouldered his weapon, still keeping an eye on them.

'M-my egg...w-where's my egg...?' I asked timidly.

Before the older gentleman could answer, Black surprised me yet again, by moving off to my right and producing my egg in a soft blanket, unharmed, from a nearby basket. He held it out to me, slowly, tenderly, as though he didn't want to break it - or risk my wrath if he did. I took my egg back, still wrapped up in its blanket and cuddled it lovingly and sighing in content. The General, as I remember now, glared at Black, and he shrugged, as though not caring what the General thought about his actions.

"Anyways, where were we? Ah, yes, you were about to -"

'Yes, we did survive for three days in that bunker,' I quickly replied. 'I don't know why or how it didn't blow up in that time, but it didn't, and me and my friends are still alive...with one exception...m-my ma-trainer...he was killed protecting us...not from the infected, b-but from my own murderous father...'

Black stiffened during my story, but I pushed that aside for now, more intent on explaining our survival.

'During our stay, we tried to re-activate the bunker's defensive grid, and stumbled upon your message. By that time, it was close to forty-eight hours old, and we tried to run away from the impending doom. But, we were attacked and couldn't escape. As I've said earlier, I don't know how or why the bunker didn't explode, but we were lucky it didn't.

'For the next two days, we prepared to go to the location provided in your message - during that time, I reunited with my father, found out I had an egg and had my trainer and father killed,' I finished, hugging my egg close and feeling it wiggle slightly in response.

"Well, that is more or less what everyone else told us...seems like their stories check out. Black, release them all."  
Black approached and held out a hand to me, as though to help me out of the bed. I reluctantly accepted his offer, finding myself weaker on my feet than I expected. He adjusted his hold on me, gently holding my waist - such a surprise for one wearing a full suit of armour. I half expected to be crushed by his grip, but he kept on taking his time, being ever-so-gentle with my fragile body and egg.

* * *

The first room we entered had John, under guard by multiple dark-clothed guards.

"Lily! Are you ok? And who is this guy?" he asked, nearly jumping out of his seat, but the multiple _click-clacks_of weapons cocking kept him in his seat. Black simply waved a hand, and the guards stood down, lowering their weapons and exiting the room. John really did jump up out of his seat this time to embrace me, relieving Black of holding me up. He seemed to sag slightly as I was removed from his grip, but I paid little attention to it.

'Yes, John, I'm fine. They didn't harm me or my egg, thanks to him,' I replied, pointing at Black, who immediately straightened up, as though happy and proud of his actions.

"Who _is_he, anyways?" John asked.

'I heard the General say that he was Black...I thought it was Daemon for a few minutes until I saw the helmet...'

John hugged me gently. "I know, Lily...you miss him a lot."

'Black was told to release all of us, John. We're free,' I told him.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked, looking at Black. "You'll lead us to them, right?"

Black nodded, as silent as ever, and walked out the door, looking behind his shoulder as though confirming we were following.

* * *

After a few hours of gathering up everyone else and trading stories, we decided to sit down in the mess hall to grab a bite to eat. All the people in there avoided us - except for Black. He stood silent guard as we ate, slightly creeping me out, but I knew he would never harm any of us. Call it instinct, call it a gut feeling, but he just had that caring attitude surrounding him.

We were all discussing what to do now, as we weren't expecting this many people inside the base, when a dark-clad soldier approached us.

"I want to get one thing straight with you guys. Even though the General set you all free, we're still watching you. Don't try anything funny, or else."

"Right to the point, huh?" Seth growled. "You fucking douchebags."

"What was that?" the soldier snapped, a hand on the holster of his sidearm. "Care to repeat yourself, mutt?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Black stiffen up, his hands slowly closing into fists. I wondered which side he would take if a fight broke out.

"I said," Seth snarled, getting up, "You - fucking - douchebags. Got a problem with it, punk?"

"Seth! Calm down, please!" Elaine said, trying to pull Seth back.

"You damn right I do!" the soldier shouted, whipping up his sidearm. But before he could even pull the trigger, a black blur moved around him and we all heard a loud _snap_just before the soldier started to scream in pain. His arm had been broken, and I had a very good idea of who did it.

_"You'd better get that looked at,"_a scratchy, distorted voice called out. We all looked around before realizing that Black had said it. He was masking his voice, I knew. But why?

"You! You did this?! I'll get you back for it!" The soldier shouted.

_"I'd like to see you try,"_Black replied smugly, leaning against the wall, not a care in the world.

The soldier lunged at Black; his remaining fist cocked back to strike, but in a flash, Black had grabbed the arm, pulled it towards him and shoved his knee into the soldier's gut. The soldier could only attempt to gasp for air for a few seconds before Black withdrew, only to lash out with his boot, sending the soldier flying to the opposite wall...minus the arm that Black was holding.

I could only imagine Black smirking as he tossed the limb over his shoulder and approached the downed soldier, his own handgun pointed at the soldier. The handgun definitely seemed familiar to me - it looked like a large caliber weapon, slightly dusty and grimy, as though Black hadn't cleaned the exterior of the gun for a while. It definitely worked, however, as Black calmly put two rounds into the soldier's chest as everyone in the mess hall watched, shocked.

_"Anyone else got a problem with this group?"_Black asked, his altered voice amplified to echo around the room.

Everyone else quickly looked at each other before shaking their heads quickly and hurrying off to their respective tables. Black then returned to us and leaned against the wall again, silent as ever, not even addressing us about the event.

"What...was _that_?" Arch asked, dumbfounded.

'I think...Black just sided himself with us,' I replied.

* * *

For the next few days, we regained our strength, not being bothered by anyone else in the base, Black making doubly sure by standing near us. I could feel my egg shaking every now and again, me getting a warm, happy feeling every time it did.

But one morning, I noticed Black wasn't with us at breakfast. Normally he would be standing close, guarding us. I thought he might've been re-assigned somewhere else, until I went looking for him.

I asked for directions to his quarters, and when I approached his room, I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Tiptoeing closer, I edged the door open, and nearly gasped in surprise.

He was sitting on his bed, facing away from the door, wearing a black skin-tight suit, his armour hanging on a reinforced mannequin, his hands holding the helmet.

He was human, all right. But he had one defining feature on his body that made me doubt it for a fraction of a second.

He had a red crystal gem protruding from his back - very similar to either a Gallade's or Gardevoir's gem.

I wondered how that managed to get in his body, before I pushed the door in further, making it creak. Black stiffened and donned his helmet before whipping around to face me, heavy-caliber pistol pointed at me.

_"Get out,"_he rasped, his voice distorted by his helmet's microphone settings. I stood in shock from seeing his chest - the gem protruded from it as well, slightly off-center, I now noticed.

_"Get OUT!"_he nearly shouted, the gem glowing for a fraction of a second as a microburst of Psychic energy caused me to stumble backwards. I backed off, and the door slammed shut with another microburst of his limited power.

I stood there for a few minutes, still in shock. How had Black gotten a crystal gem from my species? And how was it integrated into his body? I kept pondering those questions, and the possible answers to them for a good, long while until Black's door opened and he stood in front of me, fully armoured.

_"I'm sorry I wasn't at breakfast with you,"_ he said, sagging his shoulders. _"How long were you standing there?"_he asked.

'Long enough to see why you wear a larger chestpiece compared to other soldiers in the complex,' I replied. 'Just who _are_you?' I countered.

_"A close friend. A very close friend, Lily."_

Continued in Chapter Twelve...

* * *

A/N: Who is Black? Is he who Lily really thinks he is, or just another nameless merc for the army? More to come in the next chapters...

And again, I'm terribly sorry for not putting this up longer, as well that it's so short. But Writer's Block is a horrid thing...

- Chief


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